Bushiroad

Bushiroad Inc. started in 2007 when Takaaki Kidani founded it in Tokyo. The company is best known for its collectible card games, especially Cardfight!! Vanguard and Weiß Schwarz, but it also publishes mobile apps and owns major media franchises like BanG Dream! and Shōjo Kageki Revue Starlight. Bushiroad went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange on July 24, 2019.

A defining moment came in 2012 when Bushiroad acquired New Japan Pro-Wrestling for ¥500 million, a move that shocked the wrestling world and diversified the company far beyond card games. It later bought the women's promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom in 2019. On the anime side, Bushiroad revived the Neppu Kairiku Bushi Road franchise in 2013 and launched a monthly magazine, Monthly Bushiroad, in September 2013. In December 2019, Bushiroad and Kadokawa each acquired 31.8% of Kinema Citrus, and Bushiroad also bought 8.2% of Sanzigen. In 2021, it took a controlling 50.625% stake in visual novel developer Frontwing.

Bushiroad's strategy of cross-media synergy, where card games get anime adaptations and mobile games support wrestling events, has created self-reinforcing fanbases. The company's revenue for the fiscal year ending June 2024 was approximately ¥35.6 billion (about $240 million USD), with a market cap around ¥50 billion (roughly $330 million USD) in early 2025. It competes with giants like The Pokémon Company and Konami in card games, and with WWE and AEW in wrestling.[edit]