Crunchy Roll Is Sold

I said it was coming and it has arrived.

From Businesswire:

“We are proud to bring Crunchyroll into the Sony family,” said Tony Vinciquerra, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment. “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.”

Warner Media has sold Crunchy Roll to Sony for $1.175 billion, which is better than I thought they were going to get for it.

Funamation as of now, has pretty close to a monopoly on anime in the USA.

As I said in October:

“Honestly, this is indifferent news. Crunchy Roll and Funimation were both pushing Anime to go Woke, so it’s not like Anime fans are losing some bastion of defiance.  But it does mean that one market is about to be closed to serious competition, which means inefficiencies will shorty make themselves felt. Higher prices for a smaller selection. The good news is that if it’s Woke anime you aren’t going to want to watch anyway.”