Matt Schley
August 12, 2020 
AT&T is looking to sell Crunchyroll to Sony for $1.5 billion. That’s the report from The Information, who are citing “three people familiar with the situation.”
The Information is also reporting that Sony has balked at the $1.5 billion price tag, with negotiations ongoing. Meanwhile, Variety reports that in addition to Sony, Crunchyroll is being shopped to other potential buyers with a price tag of at least $1 billion.
If the sale to Sony were to go forward, it would mean that company would own both Crunchyroll and Funimation, leading to less competition in the anime streaming space.
Why would AT&T sell Crunchyroll, especially now that it’s (semi-)integrated into the new HBO Max? Well, debt—$151 billion worth.
AT&T purchased Crunchyroll along with its parent company Otter Media back in 2018. Crunchyroll recently announced it had reached 3 million subscribers.
We know these inside baseball stories make some people’s eyes roll up in the back of their heads, but this stuff does influence where, for how much and how fast we get our anime fix.
What do you think? Are you happy with Crunchyroll as it is, or would you welcome new ownership, by Sony or otherwise?
Sources: Variety, The Information
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