Takara and Tomy merge

[divebomb]

Several weeks ago, it was announced that the Japanese toymakers Tomy and Takara would be merging to form a single company this year. Little has been said until now, with an official announcement of the merger.

This press release reveals that of the two brand names, only Tomy will survive. The Takara name is to be "dissolved."

The deal will finally be completed as of March 1, 2006.

How this will or will not impact Takara's current long running and popular toy brands, such as Transformers and Microman, is unknown at this time. It is not known which lines from the respective companies will be continued in the same fashion we are familiar with today.

Currently, out of Japanese toymakers, the top three in sales are ranked:

1. Bandai
2. Takara
3. Tomy

However, between Tomy and Takara, Tomy apparently has more employees, a larger operation, and possibly greater financial and manufacturing holdings. Hence the preference in the name selection.

It is speculated that the purpose of the merger is to combat the #1 Japanese toymaker Bandai, who is currently in talks for a partnership with video game giant Namco.

www.seibertron.com/news/view.php?id=5534

Wonder if this is going to effect the brand in any way? From my thinking tomy toys are aimed at a very young audience and could this reflect on the takara ranges?

[/i]

News from www.seibertron.com

[Best First]

please provide a link to the site that provided the story, cheers.

Curious shizzle.

[Metal Vendetta]

I found this:

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stori ... 416&EDATE=

And although I think the swearing filter has evolved to the point where I can no longer direct you to the oh-so-popular website http://www.just****inggoogleit.com, you still get the idea.

[divebomb]

sorry dudes, been a while, got to get back into putting proper links in my posts! But still it is interesting news....

[Best First]

I found this:

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stori ... 416&EDATE=

And although I think the swearing filter has evolved to the point where I can no longer direct you to the oh-so-popular website http://www.just****inggoogleit.com, you still get the idea.

uh-huh. doesn't tell me which site he is quoting tho does it?

[divebomb]

I think i may have confused the situation, and put quote marks where they shouldn't be. Like I said its bin a while since i've used them.

sorry guys

(slopes off into corner)

[shaxper]

Wow. Takara's cooperation with Hasbro has always been at least partly due to Takara's economic dependence upon Hasbro. I don't know what Tomy's financial situation will be after this purchase, but there's always the fear that they won't put forth the same spirit of cooperation that Takara's leadership did. This could affect everything from toy design to American shelf-prices.

[Best First]

I think i may have confused the situation, and put quote marks where they shouldn't be. Like I said its bin a while since i've used them.

sorry guys

(slopes off into corner)

no worries champ. cheers for the noos.

and i agree, it is interesting.

[spiderfrommars]

Wonder if this is going to effect the brand in any way?

Sure it will. Mr Frosty will be the new Decepticon leader for a start.

[Aaron Hong]

Wonder if this is going to effect the brand in any way?

Sure it will. Mr Frosty will be the new Decepticon leader for a start.

And Bit Cloud gets to lead the Autobots or something?