Sony completes acquisition of Crunchyroll from AT&T

Sony officially owns AT&T’s Crunchyroll.

Sony’s deal to acquire Crunchyroll was first announced in December 2020 and sees Crunchyroll join Funimation, Sony’s existing anime streaming property, under one roof. The ultimate goal of the unification of the two anime properties under a single roof is to develop “a unified anime subscription experience as soon as possible,” said Tony Vinciquerra, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, in a statement.

The deal is priced at $1.175 billion, and AT&T — which had been reported by The Information to be shopping the service around for $1.5 billion — will use the funds to help pay down the debt it amassed from its spending on streaming. In a radical shift away from its streaming strategy,...

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