Sony/Funimation Completes Buy Of Crunchyroll From AT&T

The purchase is in and it has been made official, Sony/Funimation is now the proud owners of Crunchyroll. The sale is being completed for nearly $1.8 billion in an all cash deal that will see Funimation actually be combined with Crunchyroll to create an anime behemoth. At this point, it’s unclear what kind of assimilations will occur, but we’ve been reporting for months that the VRV streaming service is expected to drop out early next year. Also expected, the exodus of Funimation competitor HiDive from the VRV service.

“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, 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.”

This isn’t the first time that Crunchyroll and Funimation had worked together. A couple of years ago the duo featured Crunchyroll manning the subtitled content in more of an internet television service while Funimation handled English dubbed adaptations for a paid subscription. The acrimonious split saw both services take their respective franchises and shop them to streaming services and linear rights, but both companies also found ways to diversify. Funimation Films has had numerous theatrical releases that have had resounding success here in the States and is eyeing the addition of Chinese-produced content in 2021. Crunchyroll dove head first into originals with the likes of Onyx Equinox and built a strong pipeline of content for Adult Swim’s Toonami lineup.

As for Sony, we noted from a recent panel that the growth of internationally produced content showing up and being dubbed in English for America is only just the beginning. Netflix, the now new chief rival for the combined Funi/CR duo, is already pining for content from Southeast Asia and the Middle East, thwarting the need to deal with expensive series plagued by unions in favor of much more affordable IP.  Sony already has an investment in Chinese media company Bilibili, the company behind Funimation’s aforementioned Chinese series.

Update 8/9/21: The transaction has been completed as of today.