4Kids Entertainment Signs New Five-Year Agreement With Pokemon USA/Leading Children's Entertainment Company Acquires 3% Interest In The Pokemon Company.Business/Entertainment Editors and Computer Gaming Writers NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 10, 2001 4Kids Entertainment (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :KDE (K Desktop Environment) A GUI-based user interface primarily for Unix and Linux machines, but also available for Windows and Mac. The source code is freely distributed and is maintained by developers around the world. ) announced today that it has signed a five-year agreement with Pokemon USA, Inc., a subsidiary of The Pokemon Company, to continue serving as the exclusive merchandise licensing agent and exclusive representative of television broadcast and home video rights for Pokemon(R) television series, outside of Asia. In addition, 4Kids has acquired a 3% equity interest in The Pokemon Company, which was organized in 1998 by the creators of Pokemon, Nintendo Co., Ltd., Creatures, Inc. and GameFreak, Inc., to manage and control all rights throughout the world to Pokemon. "The Pokemon Company will centralize cen·tral·ize v. cen·tral·ized, cen·tral·iz·ing, cen·tral·iz·es v.tr. 1. To draw into or toward a center; consolidate. 2. and streamline the brand management of Pokemon throughout the world," said Al Kahn Kahn , Louis Isadore 1901-1974. Estonian-born American architect whose bold monumental designs include the Yale University Art Gallery (1954) and the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas (1972). Noun 1. , Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of 4Kids Entertainment. "As a 3% equity owner in The Pokemon Company, 4Kids can, for the first time, benefit indirectly from Pokemon's success in Asia and from worldwide sales of Pokemon electronic cards and video games See video game console. . We have also been advised that, among other objectives, The Pokemon Company is considering the possibility of a future initial public offering of its shares in Japan. This would place a market value on the Pokemon franchise and build value for 4Kids' shareholders," stated Kahn. In connection with 4Kids' investment in The Pokemon Company, 4Kids and the Japanese Japanese (jăp'ənēz`), language of uncertain origin that is spoken by more than 125 million people, most of whom live in Japan. There are also many speakers of Japanese in the Ryukyu Islands, Korea, Taiwan, parts of the United States, and creators of, and partners in, Pokemon will be contributing certain revenue streams to The Pokemon Company. Beginning in 2002, 4Kids will accept a reduced commission on sales of Pokemon strategy cards and will relinquish commissions on any sales of Pokemon electronic strategy cards that may be introduced by The Pokemon Company in coming years. Commenting on the new agreements, Hiroaki Tsuru, Executive Vice President of The Pokemon Company, said, "We welcome 4Kids Entertainment as an equity partner in The Pokemon Company. Their contribution to building the Pokemon brand in the worldwide market outside of Asia has been invaluable. We are looking forward to continuing to work closely with 4Kids to ensure the future success of the Pokemon brand." Headquartered in New York City New York City: see New York, city. New York City City (pop., 2000: 8,008,278), southeastern New York, at the mouth of the Hudson River. The largest city in the U.S. with international offices in London, 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: KDE) is a global provider of children's entertainment and merchandise licensing. 4Kids, through its wholly owned subsidiaries Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. , provides domestic and international merchandise licensing and product development, television, film, music and home video production and distribution, media buying and planning and website development. For further information, please visit the company's Web site at www.4kidsEntertainmentInc.com. This press release contains forward-looking statements forward-looking statement A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections. . Due to the fact that the Company faces competition from toy companies, motion picture studios and other licensing companies, and the uncertainty of public response to the Company's properties, actual results or outcomes may differ materially from any such forward looking statements. This release and prior releases are available on the Company's Worldwide Web site at www.4KidsEntertainmentInc.com. You may register to receive 4Kids Entertainment's future press releases or to download To receive a file transmitted over a network. In any communications session, "download" means receive, and "upload" means send. The download/upload often implies a big/little scenario, in which data is being downloaded from the "big" server into the "little" user's computer. a complete Digital Investor Kit(TM) including press releases, regulatory filings and corporate materials by clicking on the "Digital Investor Kit(TM)" icon at www.kcsa.com. |
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