Bushiroad, the parent company of New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), has transferred all of its shares in the wrestling promotion to TV Asahi Corporation and CyberAgent Inc. In a statement released by NJPW on Wednesday, May 27, the company announced that it will become a “consolidated subsidiary” of TV Asahi with support from CyberAgent. CyberAgent, through its subsidiary CyberFight, owns Pro Wrestling NOAH, DDT Pro Wrestling, and Tokyo Joshi Pro.
TV Asahi has been NJPW’s long-time broadcasting partner. Previously, it owned 22.7% of the company’s voting shares, while Bushiroad held 70%. After this transfer, TV Asahi and CyberAgent now each hold 46.3% of the shares. The share transfer from Bushiroad is valued at $22.6 million, or 3.6 billion yen.
Bushiroad also issued a press release, which states, “Since making NJPW a consolidated subsidiary in 2012, the Company has focused on enhancing NJPW’s corporate value through initiatives such as restructuring its management system and developing and discovering affiliated wrestlers. As a result, NJPW has established a strong business foundation and brand value, including the emergence of young star wrestlers and recording its first complete sell-out crowd at its Tokyo Dome event since 1998. Meanwhile, in recent years, in the global professional wrestling and entertainment market, the use of video content assets and diversified monetization through distribution platforms have become indispensable factors in further enhancing NJPW’s corporate value.
Taking into account these changes in the business environment, the Company has carefully considered various options as it advances, while optimizing the Company group’s business portfolio. As a result of such consideration, the Company recognized that, since NJPW became a consolidated subsidiary of the company, NJPW’s business foundation and brand value have grown significantly as described above, and that the Company has fulfilled a substantial role in enhancing the corporate value of NJPW.
In addition, from the perspective of promoting diversified monetization through the utilization of video content assets and distribution platforms, the Company determined that conducting NJPW’s business under TV Asahi, which has long been a major shareholder of NJPW and possesses a strong broadcasting and video business platform, and CyberAgent, which has outstanding expertise in digital media operations, would be the better option to maximize NJPW’s video and digital strategy for corporate value enhancement and to achieve sustainable growth and further enhancement of corporate value. Accordingly, the Company decided to proceed with the Share Transfer.
As a result of the Share Transfer, NJPW is expected to be excluded from the company’s consolidation scope and to become a consolidated subsidiary of TV Asahi. The Company will, however, continue to maintain favorable relationships with each party while aiming further to enhance the corporate value of the Company group.”
NJPW wrote this on its website, “We hereby announce that our largest shareholder, Bushiroad Inc.,(‘Bushiroad’) has concluded a share transfer agreement as of today with TV Asahi Corporation (“TV Asahi”) and CyberAgent, Inc. (‘CyberAgent’) regarding Bushiroad’s shares in our company (the ‘Share Transfer’). As TV Asahi is already a shareholder of our company, this Share Transfer constitutes an additional acquisition of shares for them. Our company will become a consolidated subsidiary of TV Asahi upon completion of the necessary procedures.
Currently, we have no plans to make any changes to our various business operations, including the events we organize, as a result of this Share Transfer. We would like to express our gratitude to Bushiroad, our largest shareholder and a supporter of our business for many years, and we look forward to working together with TV Asahi and CyberAgent to further expand our business. Thank you very much for your continued support.”
