"Sunrise's copyright agency rights are in Sotsu's hands." Director Hattori pushed up his reading glasses. "Although we have a controlling stake in Sunrise, the agency contract between Sunrise and Sotsu is a historical legacy issue, and the contract is still far from expiring. Sega has no reason to terminate it unilaterally."
"That's right." Nakayama Takuya nodded. "This is the most awkward part right now. Sega owns Sunrise, and the copyrights to Sunrise's works—Gundam, the Brave Series, and a whole pile of other anime IPs—belong to us without issue. But when it comes to the actual commercial licensing process, who can obtain authorization, how licensing fees are set, who gets the development rights for merchandise—Sotsu is the party actually steering those matters."
He drew a line across the document with his finger.
"Bandai can obtain the production license for Gundam models not because they have a good relationship with Sega, but because Sotsu is connecting the wires in the middle. Even if Sega is dissatisfied with Bandai, as long as Sotsu remains an independent third party, Bandai has a legal channel to keep obtaining licenses. What Sega can block is only the cooperation priority for Sega's self-developed games. But toys, food tie-ins, stationery licensing—these main revenue sources for Bandai—Sega can't even stick a finger into them."
Director Terauchi frowned as he digested this information.
"So what you mean is—acquire Sotsu."
"Right."
Nakayama Takuya said it crisply.
"Swallow Sotsu whole. Cut off Bandai's grain road."
The atmosphere in the conference room suddenly turned subtle.
The directors present looked at one another.
This move, put nicely, was called strategic integration. Put harshly, it was cutting off someone's livelihood.
"Sotsu doesn't only handle Sunrise's copyright agency business." Director Hattori picked up the thread. He understood the full picture of Sotsu's operations better than anyone