Bushiroad Announces Transfers of All Shares in NJPW to TV Asahi & CyberAgent, NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi Issues Statement

New Japan Pro Wrestling’s parent company Bushiroad announced on Wednesday that their Board of Directors agreed in a board meeting to transfer all shares in NJPW to TV Asashi and CyberAgent Inc.

Official press release:

“Since making NJPW a consolidated subsidiary in 2012, the Company has focused on enhancing NJPW’s corporate value through initiatives such as restructuring its management system and developing and discovering affiliated wrestlers. As a result, NJPW has established a strong business foundation and brand value, including the emergence of young star wrestlers and recording its first complete sell-out crowd at its Tokyo Dome event since 1998.

Meanwhile, in recent years, in the global professional wrestling and entertainment market, the use of video content assets and diversified monetization through distribution platforms have become indispensable factors in further enhancing NJPW’s corporate value.

Taking into account these changes in the business environment, the Company has carefully considered various options as it advances, while optimizing the Company group’s business portfolio. As a result of such consideration, the Company recognized that, since NJPW became a consolidated subsidiary of the Company, NJPW’s business foundation and brand value have grown significantly as described above, and that the Company has fulfilled a substantial role in enhancing the corporate value of NJPW. In addition, from the perspective of promoting diversified monetization through the utilization of video content assets and distribution platforms, the Company determined that conducting NJPW’s business under TV Asahi, which has long been a major shareholder of NJPW and possesses a strong broadcasting and video business platform, and CyberAgent, which has outstanding expertise in digital media operations, would be the better option to maximize NJPW’s video and digital strategy for corporate value enhancement and to achieve sustainable growth and further enhancement of corporate value. Accordingly, the Company decided to proceed with the Share Transfer.

As a result of the Share Transfer, NJPW is expected to be excluded from the Company’s consolidation scope and to become a consolidated subsidiary of TV Asahi. The Company will, however, continue to maintain favorable relationships with each party while aiming further to enhance the corporate value of the Company group.”

Following the announcement, NJPW President Hiroshi Tananashi issued an official statement thanking Bushiroad for its role in helping NJPW’s growth as a company and their plans to continue to grow as a subsidairy of TV Asashi.

“To all New Japan Pro-Wrestling fans and everyone who has supported us.

We are pleased to announce that Bushiroad Co., Ltd. will be transferring its shares in our company to TV Asahi Corporation and CyberAgent, Inc.

Since becoming our parent company in 2012, Bushiroad has played a pivotal role in the significant growth of New Japan Pro-Wrestling through various forms of support, including large-scale advertising campaigns. We are deeply grateful for their contributions.

To repay this kindness, we will now strive as a consolidated subsidiary of TV Asahi, with the support of CyberAgent, to achieve remarkable growth for New Japan Pro-Wrestling as a united company.

Our mission to create the best possible wrestling and provide entertainment for all of you remains unchanged. We sincerely ask for your continued support and encouragement.”

TV Asashi is the current broadcast partner of NJPW in Japan.

CyberAgent is a Japanese media conglomerate that also owns television network ABEMA and is also the owner of CyberAgent, which is the parent company of PRO Wrestling NOAH, DDT Pro Wrestling, and Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling. ABEMA has been the broadcast partner for WWE in Japan since 2023 but WWE is currently set to move over to Netflix in Japan later this year.