TYO Creative Business City in the World Special Feature – Management Strategy Interview – Part 2

TYO Special Interview Aiming Towards Expanding our Business Interactive Communication by Building an Organization that An update on “Production that can compete globally” Develops Talent and Creativity Feature:Animation Market in China Out of China: Special Feature ‒ Management Strategy Interview ‒ Part 2 TYO Creative Business City in the World Special Feature – Management Strategy Interview – Part 2 owns Are Born Because There Are People A Creative Business City Expands into the World TYOT Group started out in the advertising business tember 2005 showed sales of ¥19.839 billion, an for TV commercials and web contents. We then increase of 32% compared to the previous period, expanded into the entertainment business, which and current profit of ¥1.207 billion, up 43%. The includes game and music software, computer increase was largely due to a combination of ex- graphics, animation, and digital contents. And panding earnings at existing subsidiaries and the our content solutions business, which is focused positive impact of M&A as a result of TYO’s “multi- on expanding its customer base, offers sales and brand strategy.” marketing services for digital content and techni- In this issue, Group President Hiroaki Yoshida will cal expertise. At present, TYO Group comprises a discuss M&A activities and the lure of the creative “creative business city” of 25 companies. business city, and he will talk about his strategy Consolidated results for the period ending Sep- for spreading the creative business city globally. method). paying an extraordinarily high premium TYO Group has expanded to With regard to the process of companies to intrinsic value. However, for us, each joining our group, in addition to M&A, company is not particularly large and 25 companies there are spin-offs and people from out- we have been able to acquire them on side TYO who are contemplating starting relatively reasonable terms. This is pos- TYO Group started as a TV commercials their own company based on their own sible because from the standpoint of the company with advertising accounting for individual idea. These people join us af- acquired company, there are advantages 100% of its business until six to seven ter presenting their business plan. to be gained above and beyond the ac- years ago. In recent years, We have Among the companies added to the quisition price. been focusing more on movies, anima- group, 10 companies were the result of For production companies, there are tion, gaming software, and entertainment acquisitions. These acquisitions were many cases where they have the ability products. As a result, the entertainment made for cash, rather than equity swap, to create excellent products but a lack of business now accounts for as much as resulting in a total purchase amount of management presence means that they 23% of our total business. Last fiscal ¥820 million. On the other hand, I would cannot generate profit. These companies year, we were joined by two companies like to point out that the total contribution do not need capital but, rather, manage- in advertising, three companies in enter- of these 10 companies is ¥6.6 billion in ment know-how. Without a structure ca- tainment, and one company in content revenue and ¥500 million in current profit pable of generating profits and injecting solutions, and have consequently be- for the current fiscal year. funds into the company through loans come a group of 25 companies (including In general, listening to the mass media, and increased capitalization, manage- overseas subsidiaries under the equity it is easy to assume that M&A means ment will only deteriorate. TYO Creative Business City 01 TYO Business Vol.2 the region, but the company was small and he could not have done real business without having key officials from the city government and local party involved. Consequently, Hal joined the TYO Group and created a new company in Dalian, based on the credibility of TYO as a listed company. This is an example of how a smaller firm can gain size by joining the Group and be able to do business on a greater scale. Also, in the animation business, production is very capital intensive. In many cases, cash advances from TV stations and other sources are necessary. How- ever, animation production companies within the TYO Group have access to such financing, and this gives us an up- per hand in negotiating contract prices with TV stations and distributors. Another advantage we offer is our stability and reliability to deliver on our commitments. And this is even more important as recently there have been several bankrupt- Hiroaki Yoshida cies among production companies, while President and CEO, TYO Group companies joining TYO are strengthened The price offered by TYO is not low with- sidiaries, and because we acquire these by our scale. out a reason or basis. Rather, assets and companies based on mutual agreement, In addition, company presidents can projected five-year company profits are of 50 to 60 candidates, only 1 in every 10 focus more of their energy on produc- factored into the calculation. We are not deals are consummated each year. tion rather than worrying about financ- just investors. We regularly take an ac- ing. Also, in terms of management, TYO tive role in the company’s management, The group’s strength, scale, Administration Inc. offers support in rev- and offer our managerial know-how and enue management, the monthly closing and management empower resources. Even though these are unse- of accounts, and the planning of fund- smaller-size companies cured deals with no guarantees, massive ing, which improves the judgment of our amounts of work and equipment are re- Group company presidents. quired to finance loans and raise capital. For example, last year we founded a joint- Depending on the company, it may take We enhance the profits at the companies venture animation production company up to 3 to 4 years to completely settle the we bring into our fold, and these com- in China, and the focus of our business accrued liabilities that we inherit. How- panies are acquired by us for prices that became a film-making business called ever, on a fiscal year basis, we will make are appropriate relative to their competi- Hal Film Maker. President Haruta, Hal’s the business profitable in the second tive advantages. Therefore, TYO bears president, had actually been prepar- year. These are all advantages of joining all the normal economic responsibilities. ing for this deal in Dalian, China for ten the Group. Prior to such deals, we conduct exten- years prior to joining the TYO Group. sive negotiations with our potential sub- He had established a lot of credibility in in the TYO Creative Business City World TYO Business Vol.2 02 Special Feature – Management Strategy Interview – Part 2 never haggled over it. It was probably a cial production company that had been Satisfaction-based M&A question of our seeing eye to eye on the in business for more than 40 years, and supporting the expansion of the future. In the TYO Group, acquiring ten involved a pre-listing issue. The other companies like this at a price of ¥820 was an Indie-level music publishing Creative Business City million through M&A is a natural out- house. The reasons leading to the dis- come. solutions were different in each case, but When the president of a company is Even in the past, a company in our group we believe that the dissolutions occurred contemplating whether or not to join that has grown by assimilating the ben- due to our poor judgment at the acquisi- the TYO Group, pricing terms alone are efits of the group has sometimes brought tion stage and because the presidents never that crucial. In the long run, it is in the next company. The TYO Group of the affiliates could not pursue profits more important that your own company will not evolve unless each president is for their own companies or consider and flourishes and you ultimately bring about truly satisfied after joining the group. Re- realize the merits of joining the group. greater benefits to yourself. ferred to as a creative business city, the The TYO Group has forged ahead with We recently acquired Build Up Inc., a CGI relationship between the group and its M&A based on a ‘multi-brand strategy,’ production company, and the company’s affiliates is like the relationship between and has been building up the group president, Mr. Okabe, is a man who is a town and its shops, and M&A is simi- along with our superior video content known as a special effects genius. I met lar to one company inducing another. production companies. And last year our him two years ago. At the time, talks If shops are not glad to be in town, the global expansion finally showed signifi- had begun in the ¥300 million range, next inducement would end in failure. For cant progress. but we did not come to terms. He made the TYO Group, the future that we desire When considering an overseas strategy, another offer a year later and came fairly is the spread of our town’s attraction the concepts of ‘overseas as creation’ close in terms of price, but there were through M&A and not hostile takeovers. and ‘overseas as market’ are important. a number of points on which we could But we have had cases in the past when In terms of creation, terrestrial TV com- not agree, so this offer also failed to gain things have not gone well after the acqui- mercials are essentially local.

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