Sony's potential buyout of Kadokawa — which has been widely reported on over the last few weeks — is apparently being encouraged by Kadokawa employees.
That's according to a fresh article by Japanese publication Bunshun (as covered by Automaton). An anonymous "veteran" employee of Kadokawa told the outlet: "The people around me are thrilled at the prospect of an acquisition by Sony."
In part, this is because Kadokawa suffered a cyberattack earlier in the year, in which personal data was leaked. Supposedly, employees weren't happy with the way that the company's management reacted to the situation: "[They] didn’t even bother to hold a press conference after peoples’ personal information was leaked."
The hope, then, is that Sony's acquisition will result in a change of management. Kadokawa's current CEO is Takeshi Natsuno, who took up the role back in 2021. But again, it sounds like he isn't very popular with his workforce right now — based on these anonymous statements, at least.
Given all of this hubbub, it'll be very interesting to see how things unfurl over the coming weeks and months. As the reports point out, opinions on the acquisition have been mixed; there's some concern that Sony would strip Kadokawa of its independence — and that the deal itself benefits Sony much more than its target.