Animate Acquires Biblos' B-Boy Franchise

According to publishing-industry news source Shinbunka Online, Animate, a vendor dealing in anime-related merchandise, is set to purchase the B-Boy franchise from the publisher Biblos, which recently filed for bankruptcy.
According to Shinbunka, a contract was signed between Animate and a bankruptcy receiver on the 19th, and Animate will establish a new company to carry on the B-Boy business.

The target of this takeover, B-Boy (www.biblos.co.jp/bboynet/), deals primarily with Boy's Love (BL) novels and manga, which were considered the most profitable of Biblos' ventures and the core of their business model. Thus, it was assumed that a third party would take over this particular franchise. Taking only weeks from bankruptcy to find a new destination has only re-enforced the strength of its brand.

The Animate group is known as the largest anime-related retailer in the industry, and counts planning and marketing firms such as Movic (http://www.movic.co.jp/) among its affiliates. Animate has been involved with publications in the past, but compared to other fields such as character goods and CD's, books and comics were not part of their strength.
However, one of Animate's major target demographics, girls between their teens and 20's, overlaps with that of B-Boy, the franchise they are set to acquire. For Animate, this is not only an opportunity to simply acquire a profit-making business, but a chance to acquire major authors and titles in the BL novel/manga genre in one fell swoop to create synergy and further boost their entire group's profile.

The Animate group grosses over 40 billion yen ($340 million US) annually, mostly from Animate's character merchandising and Movic's marketing. With this sound financial health as a background, they decided to jump in for an immediate takeover.