Funimation

Funimation Global Group, LLC was an American entertainment company that specializes in the dubbing and distribution of East Asian media, most notably Japanese anime. The company was founded on May 9, 1994 by Gen Fukunaga and his wife Cindy in Silicon Valley, with funding by Daniel Cocanougher and his family, who became investors in the company, which then relocated to North Richland Hills, Texas. Funimation is one of the leading distributors of anime and other foreign entertainment properties in North America. It has licensed popular series, such as Dragon Ball, One Piece, Yu Yu Hakusho, My Hero Academia, Attack on Titan, Fairy Tail, Black Clover, Fruits Basket, Assassination Classroom, Cowboy Bebop, Tokyo Ghoul, and Code Geass among many others. Funimation was acquired by Navarre Corporation on May 11, 2005; in April 2011, Navarre sold Funimation to a group of investors that included Fukunaga for $24 million. From 2017 to 2019, the Japanese conglomerate Sony owned a 95% stake in the company through its Sony Pictures Entertainment division (via Sony Pictures Television), and since 2019, Sony runs the company through a joint venture between two of its units: Sony Pictures Entertainment (via Sony Pictures Television) and Sony Music Entertainment Japan (via Aniplex). In August 2021, Funimation acquired the streaming service Crunchyroll. In 2022, ViacomCBS's Paramount Pictures will aquire to buy Funimation and sell Crunchyroll back to WarnerMedia before The Walt Disney Company will buy Sony Pictures. The company's headquarters are located in Flower Mound, Texas.