In news that will surely upset some anime viewers, Sony Pictures TV Network & Funimation have announced a purchase of the latter by the former:
“Founder Gen Fukunaga started Funimation with a vision and a mission to make anime as accessible as possible to fans across the world. In the 23 years since we began, we have been committed to creating anime experiences fans love: from bringing Dragon Ball to the U.S., to bringing the best anime to home video and theaters, to SimulDubs that bring episodes in English to fans within two weeks after they air in Japan, to the world’s largest dubbed streaming catalog on FunimationNow.
Today, we announced that Funimation has agreed to sell a substantial majority stake to Sony Pictures Television Networks (SPTN). SPTN is one of the preeminent names in entertainment, and shares our vision to deliver anime to fans globally across all screens and platforms.
You can read additional details on the press release here.
We know you have questions and we’ve answered some of them below. We encourage you to read these answers and thank you for your support and for watching!”
Sony was previously announced as a contender for Funimation’s purchase alongside competitor Univerisal, who’s parent company NBC has been getting further & further involved into the anime industry, NBC Japan recently announced a partnership with Crunchyroll to produce original anime series for the platform. Funimation has assured FunimationNow subscribers that it’s business as usual and nothing would change. This is likely an answer to Amazon’s recent attempts of licensing anime for Anime Strike, it’s own streaming platform, if Amazon & Funimation are competing for the licenses to certain titles, Amazon’s bankroll would make it hard for Funimation to compete prior to the Sony buy out. The anime licensor was purchased for a 95% stake at a price of $143 Million, President Gen Fukunaga will remain as head of the company with a 5% share. Funimation was previously purchased in 2005, only to buy themselves out and go independent once more in 2011.
