Native name 株式会社ポケモン Products Pokémon franchise Founder Tsunekazu Ishihara Headquarters Minato, Tokyo, Japan | Type Joint venture Services Brand management Founded 23 April 1998, Nihonbashi Number of employees 400 (2016) | |
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Key people Tsunekazu Ishihara
(President) Website pokemon.co.jp
pokemon.jp
pokemon.com
pokemonkorea.co.kr CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara (1998–) Parent organizations Nintendo, Game Freak, Creatures Profiles | ||
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The Pokémon Company (株式会社ポケモン, Kabushiki gaisha Pokémon) is a Japanese company that is responsible for marketing and licensing the Pokémon franchise. It was established through a joint investment by the three businesses holding the copyright on Pokémon: Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures. It began operating in 1998 and adopted the moniker Pokémon Ltd. in October 2000. The company is headquartered in the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo.
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The company has separate divisions that handle operations in different areas of the world, with The Pokémon Company International supporting the territories outside Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. In South Korea, the operations are handled by Pokémon Korea, Inc.
History
In 1998, Nintendo, Creatures, and Game Freak established The Pokémon Center Company in order to effectively manage the Pokémon Center stores in Japan. After the popularity of Pokémon Gold and Silver, they received many merchandising proposals from around the world. Companies were interested in working with the Pokémon brand. At that time, Tsunekazu Ishihara of Creatures was the person in charge of approving licensed products. Because of the sheer volume of products, Ishihara thought it was too much work for one person to handle. At the same time, in order for the franchise to continue, Ishihara wished to further expand the franchise with long-term goals, such as continuing the anime series and releasing a movie every year. It was then decided that a new organization was needed in order to effectively gather together all the strands of brand management.
This led the three companies to turn The Pokémon Center Company into The Pokémon Company and further expand its responsibilities and areas of business. According to Satoru Iwata, establishing The Pokémon Company was one of his first projects at Nintendo.
The United States branch (Pokémon USA, Inc.) opened in 2001 to handle licensing overseas. Nintendo Australia does all licensing and marketing of Pokémon products in Australia and New Zealand, as The Pokémon Company does not have an Australian branch.
Since 2001, nearly all licensed Pokémon products have "©Pokémon" in the copyright acknowledgments with the usual three of "©Nintendo", "©GAME FREAK inc." and "©Creatures Inc." Despite this, Nintendo is the sole owner of the Pokémon trademark. The video games, Pokémon Trading Card Game and licensed toys are still being made by third- and second-party companies such as Tomy.
In October 2001, 4Kids Entertainment (now known as 4Licensing Corporation) acquired a 3% stake in The Pokémon Company for an undisclosed sum. They liquidated this stake 4 years later for US$960,000.
In 2006, Pokémon Korea, Inc. was founded to manage the company's operations in South Korea. Its headquarters are located in Seoul.
In 2009, Pokémon USA and Pokémon UK merged to become The Pokémon Company International, which handles American and European Pokémon operations under the administration of Kenji Okubo. The company's offices in the United States are in Bellevue, Washington and its offices in the United Kingdom are in London. Australian operations are controlled by Nintendo Australia.