NJPW sold!!!

[What Would Kevin Do?]

Breaking News: New Japan Pro Wrestling sold
Submitted by Brian Cantor (cantor@enewszone.com) on Monday, November 14, 2005 at 4:21 AM EST




<!-- UGO Promotional Code --><!-- End UGO Promotional Code -->Yukes, an Osaka-based video game company, bought a majority (51.5%) share in New Japan Pro Wrestling, reported Reuters.

The official delivery of the stock will take place on November 30, two weeks from Wednesday.

Sources report that a subsidiary company is expected to be formed shortly.

[Jaton]

The same Yukes that does the WWE games?

[Pepsi Man]

What the hell? :lol:

[Xero]

Who else thought that it was going to be to the WWE?

[FourFifty]

That's what I thought.

BAHGAWD!!!!

[What Would Kevin Do?]

Yeah, the same company that makes the games. INoki apparently had a lot of debt.

[redoneja]

So....what does this mean for NJPW, Japanese wrestling, and wrestling overall?

[Funky Fly]

Hopefully, it means WCW vs nWoish games where Japanese wrestlers are put in American wrestling games.

[What Would Kevin Do?]

As far as what it means, I'm not sure yet. I don't know if they are just "buying it", or actually taking it over.

I doubt Yukes will stop making games for WWE, and I doubt the Japanese games they make will be available here. From what it looks like right now though, NJPW may have more money now. I'm wondering if that will affect their relationship with ROH (and TNA on a smaller scale) in anyway.

[What Would Kevin Do?]

Taken from www.puroresupower.com (http://www.puroresupower.com)

(11/14/05) - (New Japan) An update from our earlier news on Antonio Inoki selling his stock in NJ to Yukes: Asahi Shimbun (http://www.asahi.com/business/update/1114/101.html) (major newspaper) has comments from Simon Inoki about the move. Simon said that Mr. Inoki sold his stock to Yukes in order to avoid a "hostile takeover." Simon stated that a company (that he wouldn't name) in September tried to buy out large amounts of private stock shares in NJ in order to force Inoki out of the company.
A "hostile takeover" is common for publicly-traded companies (like Livedoor attempted to do to Fuji TV earlier this year), but it is less common for privately-owned organizations. You can come up to your own conclusions as to who might have been trying to force Inoki out. It should be noted that other stockholders in the NJ company are TV-Asahi, Seiji Sakaguchi, and Tatsumi Fujinami

[The One]

I pray that New Japan continues to do work as usual and that this doesn't change the product. Japanesse wrestling is not like American, where someone can buy it, totally reshape it, and everyone stays just as loyal. Whoever is going to be taking charge of the product needs to realise that they are dealing with VERY smart fans. Fans who have a product they like, and they don't want changed (radically).