DWANGO Co., Ltd.(Kabushiki gaisha ドワンゴ,Kabushiki gaishaDowango)is atelecommunicationsandmedia companybased in Japan, headed by Nobuo Kawakami. The company became a wholly owned subsidiary ofKadokawa Corporationon October 1, 2014. The company was spun off from a U.S.-based service offeringonline multiplayerfor video games,DWANGO(Dial-up Wide-Area Network Game Operation), which was shut down in 1998. Dwango's majority shareholders until its merger withKadokawa Corporationincluded Kawakami himself, Kadokawa Corporation, andAvex Group.Dwango runs the popular Japanese video sharing siteNiconico.The company also is the 100% owner of the game developerSpike Chunsoft,which Dwango bought as the companiesSpikeandChunsoftin 2005 when they were separated companies, before merging them in 2012.
 | |
Native name | Kabushiki gaisha ドワンゴ |
|---|---|
Romanizedname | Kabushiki gaisha Dowango |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Entertainment |
| Founded | August 6, 1997,inTokyo,Japan |
| Founder | Interactive Visual Systems d/b/a DWANGO |
| Headquarters | Tokyo,Japan |
Area served | Japan |
Key people | Takeshi Natsuno(president andCEO) |
| Services | Niconico |
| Parent | Kadokawa Corporation |
| Subsidiaries | Dehogallery Dwango AG Entertainment Dwango Music Publishing FromNetworks Project Studio Q Spike Chunsoft Vantan Vaka Virtual Cast Watanabe Amaduction |
| Website | www |
History
editIn November 2013, it was confirmedNintendopurchased 612,200 or 1.5% shares of the company at the request of Nobuo Kawakami.[1][2]
On May 14, 2014, it was announced that Dwango and Kadokawa Corporation would merge on October 1, 2014, and form the new holding company Kadokawa Dwango Corporation. Both Kadokawa and Dwango became subsidiaries of the new company.[3][4]
In February 2019, Kadokawa Dwango announced that Dwango would stop being their subsidiary to be a direct subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation in a reorganization of the company.[5]
In July 2019,Mageswas acquired by its CEO concept studio Chiyomaru Studio and stopped being a subsidiary of Dwango and part of the Kadokawa Group.[6]
References
edit- ^Amano, Takashi (November 15, 2013)."Nintendo Rises After Buying Stake in Web Company Dwango".Bloomberg News.Archived fromthe originalon December 3, 2013.RetrievedApril 13,2015.
- ^"dwango co ltd (3715:Tokyo)".Bloomberg Businessweek. November 15, 2013. Archived fromthe originalon December 3, 2013.RetrievedApril 13,2015.
- ^Schilling, Mark (May 14, 2014)."Kadokawa and Dwango to Merge".Variety.RetrievedApril 13,2015.
- ^"Publisher Kadokawa, Internet firm Dwango complete merger".The Japan Times.October 1, 2014.RetrievedApril 13,2015.
- ^Ressler, Karen."Nobuo Kawakami Steps Down as Kadokawa Dwango President".Anime News Network.RetrievedFebruary 16,2019.
- ^"Game Director Chiyomaru Shikura Buys Out MAGES., Goes Independent".Anime News Network.RetrievedSeptember 22,2022.
External links
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