CULVER CITY, Calif. and
DALLAS, Aug. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Pictures
Entertainment Inc. (SPE) and AT&T Inc.* (NYSE:T) today
announced that SPE has completed its acquisition of
AT&T's Crunchyroll anime business through Funimation Global
Group, LLC. Funimation is a joint venture between SPE and Sony
Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc.'s
subsidiary, Aniplex Inc. The agreement was first announced in
December 2020.
Crunchyroll is a premier anime direct-to-consumer service with 5
million SVOD subscribers and growing. It serves 120 million
registered users across more than 200 countries and territories
offering AVOD, mobile games, manga, events merchandise and
distribution. The deal provides the opportunity for Crunchyroll and
Funimation to broaden distribution for their content partners and
expand fan-centric offerings for consumers.
"We are very excited to welcome Crunchyroll to the Sony Group,"
said Kenichiro Yoshida, Chairman,
President and CEO, Sony Group Corporation. "Anime is a rapidly
growing medium that enthralls and inspires emotion among audiences
around the globe. The alignment of Crunchyroll and Funimation will
enable us to get even closer to the creators and fans who are the
heart of the anime community. We look forward to delivering
even more outstanding entertainment that fills the world with
emotion through anime."
"Crunchyroll adds tremendous value to Sony's existing anime
businesses, including Funimation and our terrific partners at
Aniplex and Sony Music Entertainment Japan," said Tony Vinciquerra, Chairman and CEO of Sony
Pictures Entertainment Inc. "With Crunchyroll and Funimation, we
are committed to creating the ultimate anime experience for fans
and presenting a unique opportunity for our key partners,
publishers, and the immensely talented creators to continue to
deliver their masterful content to audiences around the
world. With the addition of Crunchyroll, we have an
unprecedented opportunity to serve anime fans like never before and
deliver the anime experience across any platform they choose, from
theatrical, events, home entertainment, games, streaming, linear TV
-- everywhere and every way fans want to experience their anime.
Our goal is to create a unified anime subscription experience as
soon as possible."
The purchase price for the transaction is $1.175 billion, subject to customary working
capital and other adjustments, and the proceeds were paid in cash
at closing. AT&T expects to use the proceeds from this
transaction to help support its debt reduction efforts, with plans
to reach a net debt-to-adjusted EBITDA of below 2.5x by year-end
2023.1
*About AT&T
AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) is a
diversified, global leader in telecommunications, media and
entertainment, and technology. Consumers and businesses have more
than 225 million monthly subscriptions to our services. AT&T
Communications provides more than 100 million U.S. consumers with
entertainment and communications experiences across TV, mobile and
broadband. Plus, it serves high-speed, highly secure connectivity
and smart solutions to nearly 3 million business customers.
WarnerMedia is a leading media and entertainment company that
creates and distributes premium and popular content to global
audiences through its consumer brands, including: HBO, HBO Max,
Warner Bros., TNT, TBS, truTV, CNN, DC Entertainment, New Line,
Cartoon Network, Adult Swim and Turner Classic Movies. Xandr, now
part of WarnerMedia, provides marketers with innovative and
relevant advertising solutions for consumers around premium video
content and digital advertising through its platform. AT&T
Latin America provides pay-TV services across 10 countries and
territories in Latin America and
the Caribbean and wireless
services to consumers and businesses in Mexico.
AT&T products and services are provided or offered by
subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T
brand and not by AT&T Inc. Additional information is available
at about.att.com. © 2021 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights
reserved. AT&T, the Globe logo and other marks are trademarks
and service marks of AT&T Intellectual Property and/or AT&T
affiliated companies. All other marks contained herein are the
property of their respective owners.
About Crunchyroll
Crunchyroll connects anime and manga
fans across 200+ countries and territories with 360-degree
experiences. Fans have access to the one of the largest collections
of licensed anime through Crunchyroll, Anime Digital Network (in
partnership with Citel, a subsidiary of Média-Participations), and
Anime on Demand video streaming services, translated in multiple
languages for viewers worldwide. Crunchyroll's services also extend
to licensing of theatrical, TV, home video, consumer product, and
video game rights.
Fans engage further with events (including owned events
Crunchyroll Expo, Anime Awards, Crunchyroll Movie Nights, KAZÉ
Movie Nights), consumer products through eCommerce and retail
partners (Crunchyroll, KAZÉ, AV Visionen), Crunchyroll Games, KAZÉ
Games, and manga (KAZÉ Manga, Crunchyroll Manga app, Crunchyroll
Manga Store).
Crunchyroll was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in
San Francisco, with offices in
Los Angeles, Tokyo, Paris,
Lausanne, Chisinau, and
Berlin (AV Visionen). VRV (U.S.)
and Eye See Movies (Germany) are
also Crunchyroll brands.
About Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures
Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Group Corporation. SPE's
global operations encompass motion picture production, acquisition,
and distribution; television production, acquisition, and
distribution; television networks; digital content creation and
distribution; operation of studio facilities; and development of
new entertainment products, services and technologies. Sony
Pictures Television operates dozens of wholly-owned or
joint-venture production companies around the world. SPE's Motion
Picture Group production organizations include Columbia Pictures,
Screen Gems, TriStar Pictures, 3000 Pictures, Sony Pictures
Animation, Stage 6 Films, AFFIRM Films, Sony Pictures International
Productions, and Sony Pictures Classics. For additional
information, visit
http://www.sonypictures.com/corp/divisions.html
About Funimation
Funimation distributes the best anime
to a passionate, global community of fans. For over 25 years,
Funimation has been delivering anime to fans and is pioneering an
omnichannel approach to engaging and entertaining millions where
they want it most—streaming, home entertainment, theatrical,
e-commerce, merchandising, live events, and more.
Funimation's streaming services offer a growing catalog of over
700 anime series and 13,000+ hours of content available on 15
platforms and in 49 countries. Funimation's in-house team designs
must-have, exclusive collectibles distributed through major
retailers and an e-commerce site; Funimation's theatrical division
has distributed and marketed 6 of the top 20 anime films in the
U.S. As pioneers of the SimulDub™, Funimation is the gold standard
for foreign language dubbing of Japanese anime with the highest
quality standards and fidelity to the original artists. With a
fan-centric approach, Funimation has built a social community of
tens of millions of followers and earned the trust of Japan's most iconic creators.
Funimation has nine offices in six countries and hundreds of
employees worldwide. As an independently operated joint venture
between U.S.-based Sony Pictures Entertainment and Japan's Aniplex Inc., a subsidiary of Sony
Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc.,
Funimation benefits from deep entertainment expertise across
cultures, territories, and languages.
To learn more about Funimation, visit funimation.com and follow
Funimation on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
1 Net Debt to Adjusted EBITDA
ratios are non-GAAP financial measures that are frequently used by
investors and credit rating agencies to provide relevant and useful
information. AT&T's Net Debt to Adjusted EBITDA ratio is
calculated by dividing the Net Debt by the sum of the most recent
four quarters Adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA estimates depend on
future levels of revenues and expenses which are not reasonably
estimable at this time. Accordingly, we cannot provide a
reconciliation between Adjusted EBITDA and the most comparable GAAP
metric without unreasonable effort.
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SOURCE Sony Pictures