Konami Sells Stake In Takara

Officials from Konami have confirmed that the publisher and developer is to sell the entirety of its 22.2 percent stake in Japanese toymaker and former game developer Takara, for a total of ¥11 billion ($104m) and a profit of ¥6.1 billion ($58m). Takara obtained the investment from Konami in July 2000, when it was undergoing considerable financial problems – problems which it has largely failed to recover from since. According to Konami, Takara has reneged on its promise to diversify and consolidate its business, reporting a group net loss of ¥15 billion ($142m). According to Japanese newspaper Nihon Keizai, this loss may have pushed down Konami's group net income by more than ¥3 billion ($28m), which Konami spokesman Chiaki Nakajima cites as the primary reason for selling the stake. The 20,104,000 shares were sold to mobile game distributor Index Corp., resulting in a 4.8 percent rise in Takara’s share price, and a 0.4 percent rise in Konami’s. Takara is best known as the maker of the Transformers line of robot toys as well as lines such as Blythe and Beyblade. The company also formerly created and published games such as Choro-Q (also known as Penny Racers) and Battle Arena Toshinden - although it has never become a major force in Japan. In fact, Takara acquired a major stake in game developer/publisher Atlus in 2003, handing over its game development to Atlus in early 2004. It appears that control over Atlus (a much larger U.S. game presence than Takara) may also transition away from Konami with this stake change, although this is unconfirmed.