Sony to acquire Crunchyroll anime streaming service for $1bn: Report

Tokyo, Oct 31 (IANS) Sony is reportedly in talks to purchase US based anime-streaming service Crunchyroll for nearly $1 billion.The acquisition would give Sony access to Crunchyroll's 1,000 titles and 30,000 episodes, reports Nikkei Asia.The company has already seen major success with the release of the animated Demon Slayer movie, which became the highest-grossing movie in Japan.Crunchyroll was founded in 2006 and it is owned by US telecoms giant AT&T, which has been looking to offload the streaming service for a while.Sony and AT&T were yet to officially comment on the report.Sony already owns anime service Funanimation, which has a million subscribers, though this is dwarfed by Crunchyroll's three million subscribers and whopping 70m free members. The new deal would also help Sony to further expand its offering in Japan and abroad.
--IANS wh/na