{"id":66704,"date":"2026-05-15T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=66704"},"modified":"2026-05-15T18:11:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T09:11:16","slug":"kadokawa-opposes-activist-shareholders-proposal-to-remove-current-president-and-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-opposes-activist-shareholders-proposal-to-remove-current-president-and-ceo\/","title":{"rendered":"Kadokawa opposes activist shareholder\u2019s proposal to remove current president and CEO\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Manga, anime and game publisher Kadokawa <\/strong>announced<\/a> on May 14 that its board of directors has decided to oppose a proposal to remove Takeshi Natsuno from his current position as the company\u2019s president and CEO (as spotted by GameBiz<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The proposal came from Oasis Japan Strategic Fund (owned by Hong Kong-based activist hedge fund Oasis Management Company, Kadokawa\u2019s largest shareholder as of March 30, 2026), who argued that there are \u201cserious issues with internal governance\u201d in the company. It cited several concerns, including what it perceives as Kadokawa having a \u201cquantity over quality\u201d approach to IP creation, a \u201cfailure to fully leverage global publishing capabilities despite owning Elden Ring developer FromSoftware,\u201d and a steep decline in earnings per share during Natsuno\u2019s appointment. The fund also raised concern about goodwill impairment at anime studio Doga Kobo (which Kadokawa acquired in July 2024) and losses suffered by the company following the 2024 cyberattack among others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In response, Kadokawa\u2019s board of directors argued that much of the criticism does not reflect the company\u2019s actual circumstances or is outright false (particularly the \u201cquantity over quality\u201d claim). It judged that the proposal to remove Natsuno would be \u201cinappropriate from the perspective of improving medium- to long-term corporate value.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The document explains that with Natsuno\u2019s appointment as CEO in 2021, Kadokawa has been gradually increasing revenue as well as \u201cstrengthening its growth foundations\u201d across publishing, games, anime and other fields by \u201cby building a system that can stably create IPs, expanding its animation production system, and expanding its overseas bases.\u201d While acknowledging that Kadokawa has not been meeting its operating profit targets in areas like anime and publishing due to rising production costs, a lack of hits and market conditions, the board explained that a new mid-term management plan was announced on the same day. Since Kadokawa plans to conduct a big restructuring of its plans and double down on Natsuno\u2019s \u201cGlobal Media Mix with Technology\u201d business strategy, it considers his leadership \u201cindispensable\u201d going forward.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related: <\/strong>Kadokawa says its policies are \u201cnot influenced by the actions of individual shareholders\u201d as overseas activist investor becomes largest shareholder with 13.76% stake<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kadokawa to solicit voluntary retirement from employees aged 45 and over as it aims for \u201cleaner\u201d workforce<\/strong><\/a><\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kadokawa’s board of directors has opposed a proposal to replace its current CEO from a Hong-Kong based shareholder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":63559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[261,17],"class_list":["post-66704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-financial-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nKadokawa opposes activist shareholder\u2019s proposal to remove current president and CEO\u00a0\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Kadokawa's board of directors has opposed a proposal to replace its current CEO from a Hong-Kong based shareholder.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/kadokawa-opposes-activist-shareholders-proposal-to-remove-current-president-and-ceo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Kadokawa opposes activist shareholder\u2019s proposal to remove current president and CEO\u00a0\u00a0 - 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