Akihabara News (Tokyo) — Sony Pictures Entertainment has announced that it will be buying from AT&T the massive Crunchyroll anime business on behalf of its Funimation Global Group for about US$1.175 billion.
Crunchyroll is the premier anime direct-to-consumer service within AT&T’s WarnerMedia
business with more than 90 million registered users and 3 million paying subscribers globally, offering video on demand, mobile games, manga, merchandise, and more.
As a result of the purchase, Crunchyroll will be merged with Sony’s smaller existing service, Funimation.
“The Crunchyroll team has done an extraordinary job of not only growing the Crunchyroll brand
but also building a passionate community of anime fans. Crunchyroll’s success is a direct result
of the company’s culture and commitment to their fans,” said Tony Goncalves, chief revenue
officer of WarnerMedia. “By combining with Funimation, they will continue to nurture a global
community and bring more anime to more people. I’m incredibly proud of the Crunchyroll team
and what they have been able to accomplish in the digital media space in such a short period of
time. They’ve created an end-to-end global ecosystem for this incredible art form.”
Added Tony Vinciquerra, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, “We are proud to bring Crunchyroll into the Sony family. Through Funimation and our terrific partners at Aniplex
and Sony Music Entertainment Japan, we have a deep understanding of this global artform and
are well-positioned to deliver outstanding content to audiences around the world. Together
with Crunchyroll, we will create the best possible experience for fans and greater opportunity
for creators, producers and publishers in Japan and elsewhere. Funimation has been doing this
for over 25 years and we look forward to continuing to leverage the power of creativity and
technology to succeed in this rapidly growing segment of entertainment.”
Crunchyroll launched in 2006 as a site for fan-uploaded, fan-subtitled content, much of it pirated, but eventually grew into a more mainstream business. It is now the world’s largest online library of Japanese animation.