Kadokawa faces shareholder pressure over CEO as June 23 meeting nears

Kadokawa chief executive Takeshi Natsuno survived a shareholder revolt at the company’s June 24 annual general meeting, but only with 59.68% support. All 13 proposals on the ballot passed, yet the thin margin around the CEO-related vote left one of Japan’s most important content groups facing clear investor unease.

The challenge was led by Oasis Management Company Ltd., which on May 20 called on shareholders to vote against Natsuno’s reappointment. Oasis said Kadokawa’s earnings per share had fallen 89% during his tenure and that return on equity had dropped from 8.2% to 0.5%. The fund also raised concerns about his outside roles, the 2024 cyberattack at Kadokawa, and a warning from Japan’s Fair Trade Commission.

The pressure did not stop at Oasis. Kadokawa disclosed that Institutional Shareholder Services recommended voting against the company’s director-election proposal, and Oasis said Glass Lewis also backed its campaign. That kind of proxy support matters in Japan because it can turn a private governance dispute into a wider signal that management’s capital-allocation plan has lost credibility.

For Nintendo, the fight is a reminder that the companies surrounding its own IP are often shaped by boardroom stability as much as by creative talent. Kadokawa is tied to FromSoftware and the Elden Ring franchise, but it is also a major manga, publishing, anime and digital-media group with reach across Japan’s entertainment supply chain. Sony Group Corporation said in December 2024 it would invest about 50 billion yen in Kadokawa and become its top shareholder, underscoring how strategically valuable the company’s catalog has become.

That makes governance pressure more than corporate theater. A management fight at Kadokawa can affect licensing decisions, franchise investment, and co-production priorities, especially when projects depend on long planning cycles and trust between partners. Nintendo has said film work is part of the ancillary use of its characters and worlds, and in August 2025 it laid out two films in the pipeline: the Super Mario Galaxy Movie, due April 3, 2026, and a live-action Legend of Zelda film due May 7, 2027.

Kadokawa’s own June 2024 cyberattack disclosure said the incident affected users, creators, business partners, shareholders, investors and other stakeholders. With that history still in view, Natsuno’s reduced margin of support leaves the company under pressure to steady both operations and its relationships with the studios and rights holders that depend on it.