{"id":71740,"date":"2026-09-02T11:12:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T02:12:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=71740"},"modified":"2026-09-02T11:12:29","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T02:12:29","slug":"square-enix-firmly-denies-reports-that-it-may-go-private-says-claims-are-baseless","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enix-firmly-denies-reports-that-it-may-go-private-says-claims-are-baseless\/","title":{"rendered":"Square Enix firmly denies reports that it “may go private,” says claims are baseless"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Square Enix Holdings<\/strong> published a statement<\/a> to shareholders on September 1 addressing claims about the company “potentially going private.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier the same day, the September 2026 issue of monthly Japanese magazine Sentaku reported that there was reason to speculate that Square Enix, a publicly traded company, would be going private. The magazine claimed that the speculation this time around “carried more credibility” than previous such rumors. The report was influential enough to trigger a rise in Square Enix’s stock price at the Tokyo Stock Exchange (source: GameBiz<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In response, Square Enix has explicitly denied Santaku’s claims. The company stated that it had made no announcement regarding plans to go private and that there is no truth to claims that it is considering doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, a number of major overseas companies have made moves toward going private. The most prominent example being Electronic Arts, which was recently acquired by a consortium including Saudi Arabia\u2019s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, and subsequently became a private company. Meanwhile, Devolver Digital has reportedly seen its stock price continue to decline since going public in 2021, even after its business performance improved. Earlier this month, the company reportedly presented investors with a proposal to delist its shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, the gaming community has also been paying attention to the recent decline in CD PROJEKT RED\u2019s stock price following the official announcement of \u201cEchoes of the Past,\u201d a major expansion to The Witcher 3 unveiled at Gamescom 2026. For publicly traded game companies, stock prices have come to be subject to significant fluctuation not only based on reception and sales of released games, but also by expectations surrounding titles still in development or even a single announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for Square Enix, the company made headlines last year when 3D Investment Partners, an activist investor, increased its stake in the company and proposed bold management reforms<\/a>, causing concern among fans. In any case, the speculation regarding the company’s potential privatization has now been explicitly put to rest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The report, first published by a monthly Japanese magazine, even triggered a rise in Square Enix’s stock price.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":25803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","autoblue_enabled":false,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-71740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":7}},"yoast_head":"\nSquare Enix firmly denies reports that it "may go private," says claims are baseless - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\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\/square-enix-firmly-denies-reports-that-it-may-go-private-says-claims-are-baseless\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Square Enix firmly denies reports that it "may go private," says claims are baseless - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The report, first published by a monthly Japanese magazine, even triggered a rise in Square Enix's stock price.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enix-firmly-denies-reports-that-it-may-go-private-says-claims-are-baseless\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-02T02:12:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-09-02T02:12:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/20240119-25798-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"936\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"564\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Hideaki Fujiwara\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Hideaki Fujiwara\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Square Enix firmly denies reports that it \"may go private,\" says claims are baseless - AUTOMATON WEST","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enix-firmly-denies-reports-that-it-may-go-private-says-claims-are-baseless\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Square Enix firmly denies reports that it \"may go private,\" says claims are baseless - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"The report, first published by a monthly Japanese magazine, even triggered a rise in Square Enix's stock price.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enix-firmly-denies-reports-that-it-may-go-private-says-claims-are-baseless\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2026-09-02T02:12:27+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-09-02T02:12:29+00:00","og_image":[{"width":936,"height":564,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/20240119-25798-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Hideaki Fujiwara","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Hideaki Fujiwara","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enix-firmly-denies-reports-that-it-may-go-private-says-claims-are-baseless\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enix-firmly-denies-reports-that-it-may-go-private-says-claims-are-baseless\/"},"author":{"name":"Hideaki Fujiwara","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/d7c6807a5a0a89cb5f7764ae96ffa985"},"headline":"Square Enix firmly denies reports that it “may go private,” says claims are baseless","datePublished":"2026-09-02T02:12:27+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-02T02:12:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enix-firmly-denies-reports-that-it-may-go-private-says-claims-are-baseless\/"},"wordCount":346,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enix-firmly-denies-reports-that-it-may-go-private-says-claims-are-baseless\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/20240119-25798-header.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enix-firmly-denies-reports-that-it-may-go-private-says-claims-are-baseless\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enix-firmly-denies-reports-that-it-may-go-private-says-claims-are-baseless\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enix-firmly-denies-reports-that-it-may-go-private-says-claims-are-baseless\/","name":"Square Enix firmly denies reports that it \"may go private,\" says claims are baseless - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enix-firmly-denies-reports-that-it-may-go-private-says-claims-are-baseless\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enix-firmly-denies-reports-that-it-may-go-private-says-claims-are-baseless\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/20240119-25798-header.jpg","datePublished":"2026-09-02T02:12:27+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-02T02:12:29+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enix-firmly-denies-reports-that-it-may-go-private-says-claims-are-baseless\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enix-firmly-denies-reports-that-it-may-go-private-says-claims-are-baseless\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enix-firmly-denies-reports-that-it-may-go-private-says-claims-are-baseless\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/20240119-25798-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/20240119-25798-header.jpg","width":936,"height":564,"caption":"Square Enix company logo"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enix-firmly-denies-reports-that-it-may-go-private-says-claims-are-baseless\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Square Enix firmly denies reports that it “may go private,” says claims are baseless"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/d7c6807a5a0a89cb5f7764ae96ffa985","name":"Hideaki Fujiwara","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/261fb30e148f01d8a7b7752437b9edb5-150x150-1-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/261fb30e148f01d8a7b7752437b9edb5-150x150-1-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/261fb30e148f01d8a7b7752437b9edb5-150x150-1-100x100.jpg","caption":"Hideaki Fujiwara"},"description":"Automaton Japan Deputy Editor-in-Chief. Voracious gamer who plays everything. Loved Titanfall 2 and has been playing Apex Legends since its launch.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/hideaki-fujiwara\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71740"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71740\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71742,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71740\/revisions\/71742"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}