Sony Funimation and Crunchyroll to Merge, AT&T Sells Site for $1.175 Billion

Sieeka Khan, Tech Times 10 December 2020, 06:12 am

Sony Corporation is set to purchase Crunchyroll, an anime streaming service from AT&T for a total of $1.175 billion. The buyout was announced by both Sony and AT&T on December 9.

Crunchyroll will now be a part of Sony's Funimation, which already licenses numerous popular anime shows such as "Fullmetal Alchemist", "Attack on Titan", and "One Piece".

Sony set to invest on Crunchyroll

Now that Sony owns both Funimation and Crunchyroll, the company already has power over anime shows in the United States at a time when other media companies are trying to sort out their anime content. One of the media companies, Netflix, has already invested in both licensing and producing its own anime content.

Joanne Waage, the general manager of Crunchyroll, said in a statement that the company is excited to go through a new path with Sony. She said that Crunchyroll has built a world-class brand with passionate fan-base of more than 3 million subscribers, 50 million social media followers and 90 million registered users.

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Waage said that the amazing fans have helped to propel anime into a global phenomenon. They are looking forward to combining the strength of Crunchyroll and the expertise of the global team of Funimaton and they see it as a win for the art form of anime.

Colin Decker, the CEO of Funimation Global Group, said in a statement through Sony that a union of Funimation and Crunchyroll is a win for anime fans around the world and that it will elevate the art and culture of the medium for years to come.

Decker added that combining Funimation and Crunchyroll will be a massive win for fans and it will enable them to compete at a truly global scale. He also stated that they are happy to welcome the Crunchyroll team and to share a mission with them, which is to help everyone belong to the world of anime.

AT&T finally gets a buyer

For months, AT&T has been shopping around Crunchyroll, and AT&T and Sony have been in talks for quite some time now about the deal.

In August 2020, The Information reported that AT&T wanted Sony to purchase Crunchyroll for $1.5 billion, and the two sides were close to almost $1 billion deal in October 2020.

In 2018, AT&T bought Crunchyroll as part of Otter Media from the Chernin Group, the company bought the rights for the site for more than $1 billion, according to the New York Times.

The sale of Crunchyroll gave AT&T ownership over a number of digital properties. John Stankey, the current CEO of AT&T and head of WarnerMedia, state that the company would use the Otter Media acquisition to harness the expertise of Otter while strengthening its own digital assets.

Under the leadership of John Stankey, AT&T and WarnerMedia are now focused on creating HBO Max, which is the main streaming offering of the company.

Founded in 2006, Crunchyroll served as the distributer of popular anime shows and movies in the United States. It offers more than 1,000 anime shows, more than 200 East Asian dramas and 50 manga titles to its millions of users.