Seven Seas Entertainment, the largest independently owned English-language manga publisher, has been acquired by Media Do International for $80 million.
Seven Seas Entertainment was founded in 2004 by Jason DeAngelis. The company publishes Japanese manga and light novels, Chinese danmei, audiobooks, and webtoons with over 1,300 licensed series published over their history.
Media Do is Japan’s largest ebook distribution company and provides digital publishing infrastructure (see “Media Do Building Portfolio“). Their International branch is headquartered in San Diego.
Seven Seas stated that it “will continue to operate under its existing leadership team and editorial direction. There are no changes to distribution, publishing schedules, or core operations as a result of this transaction. All Seven Seas print imprints will continue to be distributed worldwide by Penguin Random House Publisher Services.”
Said Daihei Shiohama, President and CEO of Media Do International, “We look forward to supporting their continued success and providing resources that allow the Seven Seas team to do what they do best—champion great stories for readers around the world.”
However, Media Do’s Japanese version of the press release also said “The company will use its own artificial intelligence (AI) to assist translators in translating manga into English,” which caused a social media backlash. In response, Seven Seas posted on Bluesky and X, “Seven Seas remains committed to human translators and the high editorial standards our readers & creators expect. Nothing about the acquisition changes how we translate our books.”
Media Do also released a statement clarifying that “there are absolutely no plans [to use AI in translation].” They continued “The Company is deeply grateful for the work of all Seven Seas staff and expresses the utmost respect for the translations they perform with such dedication…. This acquisition does not include operational or staffing changes, and Seven Seas will continue under its existing leadership and team.”
Source: ICv2
