Establishing content development joint venture with the Dadi Media Group (China)

Sumitomo Corporation (Head Office: Chuo-ku, Tokyo; Representative Director, President and Chief Executive Officer: Kuniharu Nakamura) will establish a joint venture company with Magical Kingdom Anime (HK) Limited (Head Office: HKSAR, China; Representative: Shi Zhong), which is a content developer under the Dadi Media Group (Head Office: HKSAR, China; Representative: Liu Rong), China’s major cinema and content group company. The new joint venture company will be named SC Dadi Entertainment Corporation (tentative) and will engage in the planning, development and global distribution of anime, movies and other content.

China, with a population of 1.3 billion, is the world’s second largest media content (predominantly anime and movies) market after the United States. In particular, Japan’s high-quality anime is enjoying huge popularity among young Chinese in their 20s and 30s and demand for Japanese anime titles and related products is expected to continuously grow accordingly. The Dadi Media Group, one of China’s largest cinema complex chain operators and its film producer/distributor, has recently become active in investing in various content and entertainment sectors.

SC Dadi Entertainment Corporation will develop content businesses, specifically through planning, development and global distribution both for anime and movies based on selected comics, novels and games and original content, as well as related merchandizing projects aimed at increased profitability.

Through this joint venture, Sumitomo Corporation will continue promoting the business of planning, development and distribution of world-leading quality content in order to deliver a diverse array of fantastic entertainment to large numbers of viewers in China and more widely around the world.