Comcast NBCUniversal has acquired a 51% ownership stake in Universal Studios Japan (USJ) for $1.5 billion.
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Representatives from the NBCUniversal team of Comcast explained to The New York Times that the deal is meant to help the company make a bigger splash in the amusement park industry while also strengthening its impact on the Japanese market.
Acquiring majority ownership of Universal Studios Japan is part of Comcast NBCUniversal’s ongoing investment strategy for its USA parks in Orlando and Hollywood after it dropped its $45.2 billion bid in April to buy Time Warner Cable amid opposition from antitrust regulators. This transaction also gave Comcast rights to the cable channels Bravo and MSNBC, as well as the media company’s broadcast network.
“We see Comcast and NBCUniversal becoming more of a global company”, Brian Roberts, Comcast chief executive officer, told reporters in Osaka yesterday.
In addition to further investments undertaken at its US parks, the No. 1 USA cable company is also planning a theme park in Beijing as well as an indoor theme park in Moscow.
However, numbers have picked up again following the opening of new attractions such as Wizarding World of Harry Potter July 2014. The company had hoped to build Universal Studios Japan as a rival to the Tokyo Disneyland, but was forced to delist in 2009 after it struggled to stay afloat, and was sold to a consortium led by Goldman Sachs.
Comcast aims to bolster its theme park operations through the purchase.
USJ had sales of ￥138.5 billion in the fiscal year ended March this year, up 44 percent from a year earlier, while operating profit rose 61 percent to ￥39 billion, both all-time highs, spokesman Johta Takahashi said earlier yesterday.
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Comcast Corp. announced Monday it would purchase a controlling interest in Universal Studios Japan to expand the company’s presence in foreign countries.
