Tomy/Takara Update - Takara dissolves March 2006

[Fit For Natalie]

From www.tfw2005.com

www.tfw2005.com/boards/thread79823.html

Well its signed. Tomy and Takara will merge completely and Takara will be dissolved.

While Tomy's Zoids seem to be sitting happy, what future does it hold for the japanese side of the Transformers? As pointed out, will they simply have the Tomy logo stamped onto them in the future?

[Phenotype]

Very strange that Takara will be dissolved considering Takara is bigger than Tomy. I figured it would end up the other way around but that seems to be good news for Zoids at this point.
-Phenotype

[Steel Fire]

Having been through a couple mergers, all this sounds like is normal stuff. It simply sounds like Takara as a corporate name will disappear. Everything will be Tomy, rather than Takara being a division or subsidiary of Tomy.

Which also makes sense with the stock split that was mentioned. Following final approval by both companies stockholders, Tomy will split their stock, lowering the purchase price and opening up more stock for trading and investing, which should drive the stock price even higher before the actual March '06 merger. Lots of money to be made there.

[mikey101]

admin said:

Very strange that Takara will be dissolved considering Takara is bigger than Tomy.

True but as far as the average punter is concerned Tomy is the more well known name. Makes sense to keep the Tomy name.

[Fit For Natalie]

Takara may be bigger than Tomy, but it doesn't seem to make as much of a profit as Tomy.

Does Hasbro still have deals with Tomy?

[j*ryu]

Tomy is the more well-known of the two companies and has been around much longer. Tomy was founded in 1924, Takara was founded in 1955. Tomy's portfolio of products seems to be much larger and more diversified than Takara's but since there's a lot of overlap in what they do, having both lines under the auspices of one company should streamline things quite a bit, especially for the vendors. Like Steel Fire said, a stock split is a good sign but I think it's really contingent on what they are planning for next year in terms of product offerings. Despite this merger, I still think the main problem that forced them to merge in the first place is still present, namely the downturn for the whole toy industry. I think that they'll be in "battle stations" mode for the next few years to make sure that they can weather further potential lost ground.

Fit for Natalie: I would assume that Hasbro still has the rights for Zoids, despite the lack of product this year.

j*ryu

[molgaMK2]

jryu said:

Tomy is the more well-known of the two companies and has been around much longer. Tomy was founded in 1924, Takara was founded in 1955. Tomy's portfolio of products seems to be much larger and more diversified than Takara's but since there's a lot of overlap in what they do, having both lines under the auspices of one company should streamline things quite a bit, especially for the vendors. Like Steel Fire said, a stock split is a good sign but I think it's really contingent on what they are planning for next year in terms of product offerings. Despite this merger, I still think the main problem that forced them to merge in the first place is still present, namely the downturn for the whole toy industry. I think that they'll be in "battle stations" mode for the next few years to make sure that they can weather further potential lost ground.
j*ryu

wow!
are you like a corporate analyst or investment consultant? really great explanation there!
so is it confirmed that the whole toy industry is shrinking? is it moving to computer games like PS2 / xbox kinda things?

mark

[Cheetah]

Tomy distributes some Hasbro products in Japan.