AT&T made the announcement that they have officially acquired Otter Media, the parent company for the popular anime streaming and manga publishing site Crunchyroll, thus making AT&T their parent company. Previously, AT&T owned Crunchyroll with The Chernin Group; however, AT&T expressed interest in gaining full control over the company. With their recent purchase of Time Warner Cable, AT&T was simply waiting for the dust to settle in order to move forward with this acquisition.
The plan, as of now, is to retain all of Crunchyroll’s services but incorporate the subscription and all aspects of the business into WarnerMedia. WarnerMedia is a brand-new company created by AT&T as a result of their purchase of Time Warner. Otter Media’s CEO, Tony Goncalves, will continue to serve as the head of the company and will also continue in his duties of running and managing Crunchyroll.
The amount in which AT&T paid for Otter Media has not been disclosed at this time; however, $22 million was invested into the company four years ago as part of a joint investment of The Chernin Group and AT&T.