Acquisitions · Media services (localization)
IMAGICA takes control of Hollywood localization firm Pixelogic for about ¥5.9 billion
- Buyer
- IMAGICA GROUP (Tokyo)
- Target
- Pixelogic Holdings, Burbank, California
- Value
- About ¥5.94B (about $56M) to raise its stake from 39.9% to about 88%
- Status
- Completed. Pixelogic became a consolidated subsidiary in the January–March 2021 quarter.
- Date
- 2020-08-07
IMAGICA GROUP agreed to buy more shares in Pixelogic, a California company that prepares finished films and TV shows for release in other countries (subtitles, dubbing, data files, quality checks and delivery). IMAGICA had bought 39.9% in 2019; the new purchase of about ¥5.94 billion lifted its stake to about 88%. Pixelogic's main clients are the big Hollywood studios and TV networks.
Why it matters
It gave IMAGICA a direct line to Hollywood studios as streaming services pushed shows to many countries at once; IMAGICA sold its other overseas localization unit, SDI Media, a few months later.
About Pixelogic
Pixelogic was founded in 2016 and is based in Burbank, California. It had sales of about ¥6.76 billion but a net loss of about ¥1.74 billion and negative net assets when IMAGICA took control. It now has sites in Burbank and Culver City as well as London, Berlin, Seoul, Cairo, Cape Town and Tokyo.
Swapping one unit for another
When IMAGICA first invested in April 2019, it also owned SDI Media, a big dubbing and subtitling company. The gain from selling SDI Media's shares helped IMAGICA post a net profit of about ¥3.4 billion for the year to March 2021, even though it had an operating loss.
Sources
Kakehashi M&A News home
