Sony Music Entertainment Inc. (President Shunsuke Muramatsu) and Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (President and CEO Ravi Ahuja) announced on December 19 last year that they will jointly acquire shares of Peanuts Holdings LLC. Peanuts HD is a U.S. holding company that owns and manages the intellectual property rights of the comic featuring characters such as Snoopy and Charlie Brown. Under its umbrella, it includes Peanuts Worldwide LLC, which effectively handles license operations. Sony’s two companies have signed an agreement to acquire all of the shares (about 41%) of Peanuts HD owned by the Canadian company WildBrain. As a result, Sony Group’s stake, combined with the approximately 39% acquired in 2018, will reach 80%, making Peanuts HD a consolidated subsidiary. Sony has stated that, as before, the heirs of the original creator of Peanuts will hold the remaining 20% of the shares, and Peanuts Worldwide will hold the rights and manage the business.
Peanuts, featuring the anthropomorphized dog character Snoopy, is a comic started by Charles M. Schulz in newspapers in 1950. It was in 2010 that that character and Sony Creative Products of the Sony Group signed a licensing business agreement in Japan. Before that, Peanuts fans were mainly elderly women, and events were primarily held in event spaces at department stores such as Takashimaya. At that event, teenage girls were scarce, which was a different situation from the current fan base, which spans a wide range of age groups.
Sony CP transformed this situation through its online initiatives. What was utilized were the works left by the original author in abundance and the social media that was beginning to gain popularity at the time.Sony CP created opportunities for young people to experience the fun of Peanuts by regularly posting one episode at a time on social media and its dedicated website. Also active here was Snoopy, the personified dog. Behaviors such as running around with someone else’s blanket in its mouth and, after helping its owner, saying things like ‘Praise me’ won support from young women and gave rise to a phenomenon similar to the currently popular funny dog videos. This became a turning point, and everyday items such as writing instruments with peanut patterns began to sell.
Along with the development of the Internet, Sony Group succeeded in rebuilding the domestic popularity of the retro character Peanuts. This track record and the establishment of good relations with shareholders led to the consolidation of Peanuts HD as a subsidiary. Sony Group commented, ‘We want to bring the charm of Peanuts to the world,’ showing their desire to grow its popularity globally.
