ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter “ITOCHU”) announced today that it has established iRightsport Inc. (hereinafter “iRightsport”), a wholly owned subsidiary dedicated to the intellectual property (IP) content business, with the goal of strengthening its earnings base in the Japanese IP content market, which includes anime and character-related IP. ITOCHU’s existing businesses in the IP content field will be consolidated into iRightsport, which will specialize in this field.
Through iRightsport, ITOCHU has acquired additional shares of SKY Perfect Pictures Inc. (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Atsushi Osanai, President and Representative Director; hereinafter “SKY Perfect Pictures”), which is responsible for the SKY Perfect JSAT Group’s animation business. This acquisition increases ITOCHU’s percentage of voting rights to 49%, making SKY Perfect Pictures an equity-method affiliate.

Driven by the popularization of streaming video platforms and the evolution of digital devices, global demand for anime and character IP originating in Japan has been increasing in recent years. While anime has increased the recognition that Japanese content has received around the world and the character licensing market has also grown, many challenges remain in the areas of secondary usage in each country, such as merchandising, games and events. In this context, it has become more important than ever to establish mechanisms and functions to maximize IP value globally and to link that value to sustainable profit opportunities.
ITOCHU has been building expertise and establishing a track record in the IP content business through initiatives such as its investment in Rights & Brands Asia Ltd. (hereinafter “RBA”), which operates a licensing business in Asia,*¹ its entry into the animation business through its investment in SKY Perfect Pictures,*² and the overseas licensing of merchandising rights for popular characters Opanchu Usagi*³ and Npochamu.*⁴

ITOCHU has established iRightsport to be a new core company in the IP content business, and it will transfer all of its investments in content-related businesses, including RBA, SKY Perfect Pictures, PCHOME CB Co., Ltd.*⁵ and ANYCOLOR Inc.,*⁶ to iRightsport to integrate its IP content-related businesses under the iRightsport umbrella. By centrally managing the licensing operations, global sales networks and marketing know-how possessed by these individual companies, ITOCHU will accelerate the creation of synergy within the Group.

Additionally, ITOCHU has increased its investment in SKY Perfect Pictures from 17% to 49% of the voting rights, making SKY Perfect Pictures an equity-method affiliate of iRightsport. SKY Perfect Pictures is responsible for the planning and development of anime titles. By combining these capabilities with iRightsport's consolidated global distribution and merchandising functions, the companies aim to establish a robust value chain comprehensively including everything from the planning of titles to global rollout and merchandising.

Under its management policy, “The Brand-new Deal: Profit opportunities are shifting downstream,” ITOCHU is working to provide new products and services to capture the increasing demand generated by customers in consumer-related fields, an area where it has strengths. At the same time, ITOCHU is aiming to expand the global reach of Japan’s premier content, using iRightsport as the starting point for these activities.