Bushiroad’s transfer of shares in New Japan Pro Wrestling is expected to be finalized this month, and a Japanese publication reported additional details about the sale.
It was announced in May that Bushiroad completed a stock transfer with TV Asahi and CyberAgent. Bushiroad would transfer 10,500,400 shares, representing 70% of New Japan’s shares, valuing that portion of the wrestling company at about $22.6 million USD and implying a full company value of about $32 million. Bushiroad will transact 3,550,200 shares to TV Asahi (for $7.6 million) and 6,950,200 to CyberAgent (for $14.9 million).
Weekly Gendai reported that Bushiroad had considered selling NJPW since last year and approached TV Asahi about the idea in February. TV Asahi is a longtime broadcast partner of the promotion and already owned 22.7% of it.
Bushiroad felt the limit to making a profit on the new day, so we had been considering selling it since around last year.
Weekly Gendai, citing a TV Asahi source, reported that the broadcaster felt limited in what they could do with NJPW on its own and brought CyberAgent into the process.
CyberAgent owns the streaming platform Abema, which offers pro wrestling content, and the company owns Pro Wrestling NOAH, DDT Pro, and Tokyo Joshi Pro through its subsidiary CyberFight. According to Weekly Gendai, CyberAgent considers wrestling strong content and hopes to expand overseas.
Weekly Gendai added that there could be a potential for inter-promotional matches between NJPW and other CyberAgent entities.
