CJ ENM's 'Fifth Season' Secures 290 Billion KRW Investment from Japan's Toho

A 'global dream team studio' uniting leading content companies from Korea, the U.S., and Japan is being born. CJ ENM's U.S. studio 'Fifth Season' has received a large-scale investment from Japan's leading entertainment company Toho.

On the 11th, CJ ENM announced that Fifth Season, a U.S.-based global studio acquired in 2022, has attracted an investment of $225 million (approximately 290 billion KRW) from Toho.

On the 10th (U.S. local time), Fifth Season conducted a third-party allotment paid-in capital increase worth $225 million targeting Toho International, Toho's U.S. subsidiary. Upon completion of this investment, Toho will become the second-largest shareholder of Fifth Season, holding a 25% stake.

Founded in Tokyo in 1932, Toho is Japan's top entertainment company leading the development, production, and distribution of films, animation, theater, and TV content. It has grown through collaborations with Japanese film masters such as Akira Kurosawa, Yasujir? Ozu, and Kenji Mizoguchi, and holds numerous mega intellectual properties (IPs) that continue the lineage of Japanese kaiju films like Godzilla, Radon, Mothra, King Ghidorah, and Mechagodzilla. Additionally, Toho exclusively handles distribution partnerships for Japan's top creators such as Studio Ghibli and Makoto Shinkai. As of 2022, Toho recorded revenues of $1.62 billion (approximately 2.1191 trillion KRW) and operating profit of $299 million (approximately 391.2 billion KRW).

After acquiring Fifth Season, CJ ENM has focused on producing TV series and films and expanding its global distribution network to grow its business. It has also sought strategic partners who can participate in expanding original IPs to secure content diversity and strengthen planning and production capabilities. This investment is the largest external investment ever raised by a CJ ENM-affiliated studio, and the funds will be used to solidify the business foundation for expanding Fifth Season’s global distribution business and growing it into the world’s top studio.

With the addition of Japan’s leading entertainment company, Fifth Season is expected to accelerate its global activities. The goal is to leap forward as a global dream team studio encompassing both Eastern and Western cultures. CJ ENM plans to combine its accumulated K-content super-gap know-how with Fifth Season’s planning and production capabilities and Toho’s content foresight to present unique content that will resonate across global markets.

CJ ENM and Fifth Season will plan and develop Toho content for global audiences and participate in content production within Japan. Toho’s planning and development personnel and executive producers will also closely collaborate with Fifth Season’s core staff, fostering active creator exchanges among the three companies. By maximizing collaboration synergy between Eastern and Western creators from the content planning stage, they aim to establish a production system capable of generating diverse global-oriented content. The content produced will be distributed worldwide through Fifth Season’s established global distribution network.

Gu Chang-geun, CEO of CJ ENM, said, "We are pleased that Fifth Season, which is rising as a global major studio, is welcoming Japan’s top entertainment company as a partner. We will focus on CJ ENM’s core super-gap content production competitiveness and step up as a global IP powerhouse."

Hiro Matsuoka, CEO of Toho, stated, "This investment is a meaningful step for Toho to challenge the global market based on collaboration with CJ ENM and Fifth Season, which are rapidly growing beyond Asia into the global entertainment market. The solid partnership among the three companies is expected to serve as a 'bridge' enabling Japanese content and IP to enter the global market more actively."

Graham Taylor and Chris Rice, co-CEOs of Fifth Season, said, "This strategic investment is an opportunity for Fifth Season to expand its leadership in the global film and TV content market, and there was no hesitation in partnering with Toho, which has successful and rich stories. Based on strong partnerships with Toho and CJ ENM, we will produce diverse content with the best competitiveness to captivate audiences worldwide."

Meanwhile, CJ ENM has previously revealed a vision to become a 'global IP powerhouse' with a solid position as an IP holder and platform competitiveness based on super-gap content production capabilities. Fifth Season is expanding its business foundation by signing original content distribution partnerships with global OTT platforms in line with the normalization of the U.S. content production market and focusing on strengthening production competitiveness through talent acquisition.