Kodansha's US Expansion on Hold Due to Global Economic Crisis

Kodansha’s awaited expansion into the US as a first-party publisher has been put on an indefinite hold due to the current financial crisis, according to comments made by an attendee of a recent job fair sponsored by Japanese placement company Rakujobs in Japan. Kodansha had announced last year that it intended to set up a direct subsidiary in the US in order to publish its library of titles starting in September, which would have placed it directly in competition with established domestic publishers who are also licensors of many Kodansha properties such as Del Rey and Dark Horse.

Speculation had come to a head in recent months after the initial announcement was made that the company was facing issues with launching the division in the US that were possibly related to the global financial crisis, as the subsidiary showed no activity in terms of acquisitions or announcements whatsoever after the original launch date passed, along with Kodansha USA’s parent division posting a loss of $81.2 million in 2008 further fueling the speculation that the subsidiary was in trouble before it even began operations.

The subsidiary was formed with an initial capitalization of $2 million to begin operations in New York, but no further details are available at this time regarding employee count or other major subsidiary details.