Confirmed - Sony will buy Crunchyroll for $1.175 billion

An article posted on Crunchyroll's official site has confirmed that Crunchyroll will be acquired by Sony's Funimation Global Group, pending regulatory approvals and closing. The final figure to be paid is $1.175 billion on closure of the deal.

Miles Thomas, Crunchyroll's official "Social and Editorial Person" stated:

Until the deal closes, Crunchyroll and Funimation will continue to operate independently. Regardless of the big news, we’re still the same Crunchyroll we were yesterday and will continue to bring you more anime!

We were also emailed by Crunchyroll's UK press team:

""We are excited to embark on this new journey. Crunchyroll has built a world-class brand with a passionate fan-base of over 3M subscribers, 50M social followers and 90M registered users. These amazing fans have helped to propel anime into a global phenomenon,” said Joanne Waage, general manager of Crunchyroll. "Combining the strength of the Crunchyroll brand and the expertise of our global team with Funimation is an exciting prospect and a win for the incredible art form of anime.”

Sony also issued a fulsome Press Release explaining the situation:

“The Crunchyroll team has done an extraordinary job of not only growing the Crunchyroll brand but also building a passionate community of anime fans. Crunchyroll’s success is a direct result of the company’s culture and commitment to their fans,” said Tony Goncalves, Chief Revenue Officer, WarnerMedia. “By combining with Funimation, they will continue to nurture a global community and bring more anime to more people. I’m incredibly proud of the Crunchyroll team and what they have been able to accomplish in the digital media space in such a short period of time. They’ve created an end-to-end global ecosystem for this incredible art form.” 

“We are proud to bring Crunchyroll into the Sony family,” said Tony Vinciquerra, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment. “Through Funimation and our terrific partners at Aniplex and Sony Music Entertainment Japan, we have a deep understanding of this global artform and are well-positioned to deliver outstanding content to audiences around the world. Together with Crunchyroll, we will create the best possible experience for fans and greater opportunity for creators, producers and publishers in Japan and elsewhere.  Funimation has been doing this for over 25 years and we look forward to continuing to leverage the power of creativity and technology to succeed in this rapidly growing segment of entertainment.”

Clearly this will have a huge impact on the anime landscape, and you can read our speculation piece here.