4Kids Entertainment, Inc. (formerly known as Leisure Concepts, Inc. and later known as 4Licensing Corporation) was an American

licensing A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

company. The company was previously also a film and television production company that produced English- dubbed Japanese

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

through its subsidiary 4Kids Productions between 1992 and 2012; it specialized in the acquisition, production and licensing of children's entertainment around the United States. The first anime that 4Kids Productions dubbed was the first eight seasons of ''

Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...

'' that originally began airing on

first run syndication Broadcast syndication is the practice of leasing the right to broadcasting television shows and radio programs to multiple television stations and radio stations, without going through a broadcast network. It is common in the United States where ...

and then it later moved to exclusively air on

Kids' WB! Kids' WB (stylized as Kids' WB!) was an American children's programming service and brand of The WB that aired on the network from September 9, 1995, to September 16, 2006. The block moved to The CW (a result of the merger of Time Warner's The WB ...

in the United States. The company is most well known for its range of television licenses, which has included the multibillion-dollar ''

'' and ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuki Takahashi. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' magazine between September 1996 and March 2004. The plot follows the story of a boy named Yugi Mutou, w ...

'' Japanese anime franchises. They also ran two program blocks:

Toonzai Toonzai (formerly known as The CW4Kids from May 24, 2008 to August 7, 2010, or stylized as TOONZAi) was an American Saturday morning cartoon children's television block that aired on The CW from May 24, 2008 to August 18, 2012. The block was ...

(originally The CW4Kids) on

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, and

4Kids TV 4Kids TV (often stylized as 4K!DSTV and formerly known as FoxBox from September 14, 2002 to January 15, 2005) was an American block programming, television programming block and Internet-based video on demand children's network operated by 4Kid ...

(originally FoxBox) on

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

, both aimed at children. The 4KidsTV block ended on December 27, 2008; Toonzai block ended on August 18, 2012, which was replaced by Saban's

Vortexx Vortexx was a short-lived American Saturday morning children's television programming block that aired on The CW from August 25, 2012 to September 27, 2014. Programmed by Saban Brands, it replaced Toonzai, a block that was programmed by 4Kids Ent ...

, which in itself was succeeded by Litton's

One Magnificent Morning One Magnificent Morning (OMM) is an American programming block that is programmed by Hearst Media Production Group (formerly Litton Entertainment) and distributed by CBS Media Ventures, and debuted on October 4, 2014, as a replacement for the an ...

in 2014. 4Licensing Corporation had its world headquarters on

Third Avenue Third Avenue is a north-south thoroughfare on the East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan, as well as in the center portion of the Bronx. Its southern end is at Astor Place and St. Mark's Place. It transitions into Cooper Square ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, its former subsidiary, 4Kids Productions, had its headquarters in a separate building in Manhattan. The

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

delisted 4Kids (NYSE: KDE) on June 1, 2010. On April 6, 2011, it filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

protection following a lawsuit concerning the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise. On December 13, 2012, the company announced that it had emerged from bankruptcy. On September 21, 2016, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection once again and shut down operations one year later.

History

Company origins

Leisure Concepts was co-founded on April 28, 1970, by Mike Germakian (later who would be known as one of the creators of ThunderCats) and Stan Weston (the creator of

G.I. Joe ''G.I. Joe'' is an American media franchise and a line of action figures owned and produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier ( U.S. Army), Ac ...

and

Captain Action Captain Action was an action figure created in 1966, equipped with a wardrobe of costumes and facial masks allowing him to become Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Captain America, Aquaman, the Phantom, The Lone Ranger (and Tonto), Flash Gordon, Buc ...

), as an independent licensing agency in

. Mike Germakian was the secretary of LCI, while Stan Weston was initially the President and later the Chairman of Leisure Concepts. Weston was also the

Treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...

of the company.

1970–1990: Early beginnings

In the beginning, the company pitched toy and cartoon ideas to various companies, as well as formed partnerships with companies such as

Rankin/Bass Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (founded and formerly known as Videocraft International, Ltd. and Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.) was an American production company located in New York City, and known for its seasonal television specials, usual ...

, among others. LCI began making news in the 1980s through licensing actual people, a variety of products, and even concepts. The company also had a growing number of deals with television producers and toy manufacturers. Among the company's licenses at the time were

Farrah Fawcett Farrah Leni Fawcett (born Ferrah Leni Fawcett; February 2, 1947 – June 25, 2009) was an American actress. A four-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee and six-time Golden Globe Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she playe ...

of Charlie's Angels fame,

Charlie Chan Charlie Chan is a fictional Honolulu police detective created by author Earl Derr Biggers for a series of mystery novels. Biggers loosely based Chan on Hawaiian detective Chang Apana. The benevolent and heroic Chan was conceived as an alter ...

James Bond 007 The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...

, a wide array of Nintendo characters and products,

the Hulk The Hulk is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in the debut issue of ''The Incredible Hulk'' (May 1962). In his comic book ...

, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century TV Series and many others. LCI is credited in its assistance in the initial development of the "ThunderCats" concept and acted on behalf of

Lorimar-Telepictures Lorimar-Telepictures Corporation was an entertainment company established in 1985 with the merger of Lorimar Productions, Inc. and Telepictures Corporation. Headquartered at the former Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios (now Sony Pictures Studios) ...

Corp as an exclusive worldwide licensing agent for products based on "Thundercats", an agreement that was signed between the two parties on June 15, 1984. During the mid-1980s, Ted Wolf came up with the idea of a race of catlike humanoid superheroes. He shared his vision with his friend Stan Weston, who in turn, through LCI, pitched it to

Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (founded and formerly known as Videocraft International, Ltd. and Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.) was an American production company located in New York City, and known for its seasonal television specials, usual ...

. Both

Arthur Rankin Jr Arthur Gardner Rankin Jr. (July 19, 1924 – January 30, 2014) was an American director, producer and writer, who mostly worked in animation. Co-creator of Rankin/Bass Productions with his friend Jules Bass, he created stop-motion animatio ...

and

Jules Bass Julius Bass (September 16, 1935 – October 25, 2022) was an American director, producer, lyricist, composer, and author. Until 1960, he worked at a New York advertising agency, and then co-founded the film production company Videocraft Interna ...

were impressed with the idea and the potential that it had of becoming an instant success. They approved of it and "ThunderCats" went into production. During the early development stage, Mike Germakian designed much of the ThunderCats' characters, vehicles and locations. He was also responsible for creating the now iconic ThunderCats logo, featuring a stylized black panther head on a red circle. Germakian's designs were then sent to Pacific Animation Corporation in Japan to be adapted into cartoon format. After completing work on ThunderCats, Germakian went on to design characters for

SilverHawks ''SilverHawks'' is an American animated television series developed by Rankin/Bass Productions and distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures in 1986. The animation was provided by Japanese studio Pacific Animation Corporation. In total, 65 episodes were ...

and

The Comic Strip The Comic Strip are a group of British comedians who came to prominence in the 1980s. They are known for their television series ''The Comic Strip Presents...'', which was labelled as a pioneering example of the alternative comedy scene. The c ...

, both Rankin/Bass shows. In July 1987, Alfred Kahn, former Executive Vice President of Marketing at

Coleco Coleco Industries, Inc. was an American company founded in 1932 by Maurice Greenberg as The Connecticut Leather Company. It was a successful toy company in the 1980s, mass-producing versions of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls and its video game console ...

, who was credited for bringing the

Cabbage Patch Kids Cabbage Patch Kids are a line of cloth dolls with plastic heads first produced by Coleco Industries in 1982. They were inspired by the Little People soft sculptured dolls sold by Xavier Roberts as collectibles. The brand was renamed 'Cabbage ...

to the Mainstream, joined the company as vice chairman and a member of the board of directors. On December 17, 1987, LCI signed a licensing deal with

Nintendo of America is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing cards. ...

, Inc. to market the software products that went along with its increasingly popular gaming systems. Nintendo had already introduced ''

The Legend of Zelda ''The Legend of Zelda'' is an action-adventure game franchise created by the Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It is primarily developed and published by Nintendo, although some portable installments and re-rele ...

'' for its home video game system, a software product that went on to sell more than one million copies during the year. Some time in 1986, the company also signed a licensing deal to market ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

''.

1990–2000: Expansion and name change

The 1990s were seen as turning point for the company. In the early 1990s, LCI expanded its operations and began television production in 1992. This would include English-

dubbing Dubbing (re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and video production, often in concert with sound design, in which additional or supplementary recordings are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production sou ...

Japanese

through its subsidiary 4Kids Productions, which the company would be mostly known for. In 1987,

Bobby Kotick Robert A. Kotick (born 1963) is an American businessman who serves as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Activision Blizzard. He became CEO of Activision in 1991 after purchasing a company stake the previous year. Kotick engineered a merger ...

(now President and CEO of

Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. It was founded in July 2008 through the merger of Activision, Inc. (the publicly traded parent company of Activision Publishing) and Vivendi ...

) tried to acquire

Commodore International Commodore International (other names include Commodore International Limited) was an American home computer and electronics manufacturer founded by Jack Tramiel. Commodore International (CI), along with its subsidiary Commodore Business Mach ...

. When Kotick was unsuccessful he instead purchased a controlling stake in LCI, thus also becoming LCI's CEO and chairman in June 1990. Kotick later traded out of his stake in LCI and bought a 25% stake in

Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...

in December 1990. In March 1991, Kotick became CEO at

. The company did $6 million in sales in 1989 and employed 14 people by 1990. On March 12, 1991, LCI appointed Alfred Kahn as its chairman and CEO. In 1992, two subsidiaries were established by the company:

The Summit Media Group The Summit Media Group Inc. was an American New York City based subsidiary of 4Kids Entertainment, and formerly of Leisure Concepts. This subsidiary served print and broadcast media–planning and buying services for clients in the children's t ...

, Inc. and 4Kids Productions. The company changed its name from Leisure Concepts Inc. to 4Kids Entertainment Inc. on November 16, 1995. Although the company changed its name, "Leisure Concepts" still operated as a separate subsidiary of the company, meaning the company may have decided to use the "Leisure Concepts" name for branding purposes. By 1999, 4Kids Entertainment employed 50 people.

2000–2005: The new millennium

The new century found 4Kids Entertainment Inc., switching from the NASDAQ market and joining the New York Stock Exchange on September 20, 2000. The firm's new ticker symbol was KDE and the company was riding high during the continuing success of " Pokemon" when it earned Fortune's top slot on its 100 Fastest Growing Companies for 2000. The company was also listed on the Frankfurt Exchange earlier in the year. On April 5, 2000, 4Kids and

Mattel Mattel, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational toy manufacturing and entertainment company founded in January 1945 and headquartered in El Segundo, California. The company has presence in 35 countries and territories and sells products in more ...

signed a licensing agreement to create

Hot Wheels Hot Wheels is an American brand of scale model cars introduced by American toymaker Mattel in 1968. It was the primary competitor of Matchbox until 1997, when Mattel bought Tyco Toys, then owner of Matchbox. Many automobile manufacturers have ...

die-cast cars and racing sets featuring the PACE Motor Sports line of monster trucks. The license included rights to the monster truck

Grave Digger A gravedigger is a cemetery worker who is responsible for digging a grave prior to a funeral service. Description If the grave is in a cemetery on the property of a church or other religious organization (part of, or called, a churchyard), ...

, and a new line of

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nation ...

vehicles designed after their star wrestlers such as

Goldberg Goldberg or Goldberger may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Goldberg Ensemble, a British string ensemble * ''Goldberg Variations'', a set of 30 keyboard variations by Johann Sebastian Bach * ''The Goldbergs (broadcast series)'', American radio ...

Sting Sting may refer to: * Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger * Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself Fictional characters and entities * Sting (Middle-eart ...

and

Bret Hart Bret Hart (born July 2, 1957) is a Canadian-American retired professional wrestler, currently signed to WWE under a legend's contract. A member of the Hart wrestling family and a second-generation wrestler, he has an amateur wrestling backgr ...

. The PACE Motor Sports and World Championship Wrestling line of Hot Wheels vehicles have been available nationally at mass-market retailers beginning in the summer of that year. In 2001, 4Kids Entertainment obtained the merchandising and television rights to the series ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese anime series animated by Studio Gallop based on the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' manga series written by Kazuki Takahashi. It is the second anime adaptation of the manga following the 1998 anime televisi ...

'' from Nihon Ad Systems, producing an English-language version which aired in North America on Kids' WB from September 29, 2001, to June 10, 2006. In October 2001, 4Kids Entertainment acquired a 3% stake in

The Pokémon Company The Pokémon Company (株式会社ポケモン, ''Kabushiki gaisha Pokemon'') is a Japanese company responsible for brand management, production, publishing, marketing, and licensing of the ''Pokémon'' franchise, which consists of video game s ...

, in a move to benefit indirectly from Pokémon's success in Asia, and from worldwide sales of Pokémon electronic cards and video games. In late January 2002, 4Kids Entertainment signed a four-year, US$100 million deal with the

Fox Broadcasting Company The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations an ...

to program its Saturday morning lineup. By 2002, 4Kids got $140 million in

revenue. It premiered September 14, 2002, as " FoxBox" after

Fox Kids Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized as FOX KIDS) was an American children's block programming, programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channel ...

was dissolved following the purchase of

Fox Family Worldwide ABC Family Worldwide is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Television that is responsible for the operations of the U.S. cable network Freeform. The company was originally formed as International Family Entertainment, a spin-off of the Christian Broad ...

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

. FoxBox rebranded to "4Kids TV" in January 2005. 4Kids Entertainment was wholly responsible for the content of the block and collected all advertising revenues from it.

2005–2010: Further expansion and financial failings

On October 10, 2005, 4Kids Entertainment sold its 3% stake in The Pokémon Company for US$960,000, to the three parties owning the rights to Pokémon (

Nintendo is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...

, Creatures and

Game Freak is a Japanese video game developer, best known as the primary developer of the mainline ''Pokémon'' series of role-playing video games published by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company. History Predating the video game company, ''Game Freak'' ...

). On December 23, 2005, the company announced that it will not renew the Pokémon representation agreement set to expire on December 31, 2005. And that beginning in 2006, Pokémon USA, Inc.'s in-house licensing group will handle all Pokémon licensing outside of Asia. However the company will continue to receive commissions for the next several years, on payments made under existing Pokémon license agreements whose term expires after December 31, 2005. On January 17, 2006, 4Kids and

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

signed a deal to license children's video games exclusively for the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

gaming system, in an effort to put more child-oriented games on the system, whose gaming library was at the time dominated by games targeted toward the 12-and-up market. One of the first titles announced was ''

Viva Piñata ''Viva Piñata'' is a video game franchise created and produced by Xbox Game Studios and Rare. The series' first game, '' Viva Piñata'' (2006), was conceived as a mobile gardening game before Rare was acquired by Microsoft. It was released on ...

'' which would be developed by Rare. On June 10, 2006, 4Kids licensed the sequel series to Yu-Gi-Oh, Yu-Gi-Oh GX, for release in North America. On April 18, 2006, 4Kids launched a new subsidiary entitled 4Sight Licensing Solutions Inc.,4Kids Launches 4Sight Licensing Solutions
. ''

Anime News Network Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...

''. Retrieved April 18, 2006. which licenses and market brands aimed at adults, teenagers and pre-teens. "We have built an impressive roster of captivating and successful children's entertainment properties," said Alfred Kahn. "Given the increased number of brands that we are representing that focus on an older audience, we felt it would be beneficial to organize a new subsidiary primarily devoted to the marketing and licensing of these brands. We believe that we can successfully utilize our marketing and licensing expertise to build brand value for properties targeting an older consumer that are not necessarily media or character driven." On December 11, 2006, 4Kids Entertainment announced the formation of two subsidiaries, TC Digital Games, LLC, a trading card company, and TC Websites, LLC, an online multi-platform game company. "The formation of TC Digital Games and TC Websites represent a significant enhancement of our business strategy," said Alfred R. Kahn, chairman and CEO of 4Kids Entertainment. TC Digital Games LLC and TC Websites LLC were shut down in 2010, due to continued lack of profitability. On October 2, 2007,

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

and

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

announced that the

Kids' WB Kids' WB (stylized as Kids' WB!) was an American children's programming service and brand of The WB that aired on the network from September 9, 1995, to September 16, 2006. The block moved to The CW (a result of the merger of Time Warner's The WB ...

programming block on their co-owned network,

, would be ending in 2008, and no longer be marketed and produced in-house, due to factors including cable competition. Rights for the five-hour Saturday morning block were bought by 4Kids, and they began to program the time with their own programming (mixed in with three former Kids' WB originals) in September 2008. Because of this additional deal, 4Kids provided programming for both The CW and

in the 2008–09 season giving 4Kids nine hours of combined children's programming on two broadcast networks, as 4KidsTV ran until December 27, 2008. The new block,

The CW4Kids Toonzai (formerly known as The CW4Kids from May 24, 2008 to August 7, 2010, or stylized as TOONZAi) was an American Saturday morning cartoon children's television block that aired on The CW from May 24, 2008 to August 18, 2012. The block was c ...

, started May 24, 2008. The CW4Kids was renamed to

starting on August 14, 2010, featuring '' Magical Do-Re-Mi!'', '' Cubix: Robots for Everyone'', ''

Dinosaur King is a Japanese card-based arcade game from Sega that uses similar gameplay mechanics to '' Mushiking''. The game was revealed in JAMMA 2005. A Nintendo DS version was also later released. In the fall of 2008, Upper Deck Company released ...

'', ''

'',''

Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's is the second main spin-off of the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise, succeeding ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX'', in celebration of the 40th anniversary of Weekly Shonen Jump and the 15th anniversary of V Jump. The series aired in Japan from April 2, 2008 to Mar ...

'', ''

Sonic X is a Japanese anime television series based on Sega's ''Sonic the Hedgehog'' video game series. Produced by TMS Entertainment under partnership with Sega and Sonic Team, and directed by Hajime Kamegaki, ''Sonic X'' initially ran for 52 epis ...

'' and ''

Dragon Ball Z Kai ''Dragon Ball Z Kai'' (known in Japan as ) is a revised version of the anime series '' Dragon Ball Z'', produced in commemoration of its 20th anniversary. Produced by Toei Animation, the series was originally broadcast in Japan on Fuji TV from A ...

''. Even though

was discontinued as it was online only, this programming block continued to use the CW4Kids name, to reflect to the network it airs on. 4Kids also indicated that it retained ''

'' and ''

'' in its lineup. In addition to that, Toonzai also aired ''

''. The Toonzai block ended on August 18, 2012. A week later, the block was replaced by

, which ran as a final Saturday morning cartoon block on The CW from August 25, 2012, to September 27, 2014, before being replaced by

on October 4, 2014. On November 10, 2008, 4Kids Entertainment announced that it would exit its contract with Fox and terminate its Fox programming block by the end of 2008. The final broadcast of 4Kids TV on Fox was on December 27, 2008. On December 17, 2008, 4Kids Entertainment announced that it is laying off about 15% of its workforce due to the worsening economic environment, and financial situation at the company.

2010–2012: Decline and first bankruptcy

On May 28, 2010, the company announced that New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) trading in its common stock would be suspended prior to the opening of trading on Tuesday, June 1, 2010, thus effectively delisting the company from the

. Beginning June 1, 2010, the company began trading under the new stock symbol "KIDE" on the OTC Bulletin Board (OTCBB) market. On January 11, 2011, the company announced that Alfred Kahn, the CEO and Chairman of the Company since March 1991, had left the company. Michael Goldstein, a member of the company's Board of Directors since March 2003, was appointed interim chairman, while the company was conducting a search for a new CEO. On March 29, 2011,

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...

and

Nihon Ad Systems , NAS for short, is a Japanese anime production and character merchandising company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the advertising agency Asatsu-DK. The "Ad" in its title is an abbreviation for "Animation Development". Along with animation studios ...

(NAS) sued 4Kids Entertainment, alleging that the company entered into illegal agreements with other companies, including

Funimation Entertainment Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

and

Majesco Entertainment Majesco Entertainment Company (formerly Majesco Sales Inc.) is an American video game publisher and distributor based in Hazlet, New Jersey. The company was founded as Majesco Sales in Edison, New Jersey in 1986, and was a privately held company ...

, regarding the ''

'' anime franchise. TV Tokyo claimed that those agreements allowed 4Kids to collect royalties without paying a portion of those royalties to TV Tokyo, which violates their original agreement. The companies are seeking almost $5 million in "underpayments, wrongful deductions, and unmet obligations." As part of the suit, the companies terminated the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' license from 4Kids. Neither Funimation nor Majesco are listed as defendants in the case. 4Kids Entertainment informed the licensors on March 27, 2011, that their termination letter was "wrongful and devoid of any factual and legal basis," and that they had not given 4Kids 10 days notice as required. 4Kids further revealed that they had made a good-faith payment of $1 million and agreed to a March 18 meeting in lieu of a lawsuit, which TV Tokyo and NAS nevertheless decided to go ahead with. The company also stated that even if the termination is found to be valid, the company is prepared to do whatever it takes to stay in business. 4Kids filed for

protection as of April 6, 2011. 4Kids requested that the court suspend co-licensor

Asatsu DK d/b/a ADK, formerly known as Asatsu-DK, is a Japanese advertising agency. Headquartered in the Toranomon Hills building complex in Minato, Tokyo since June 2014 (previously in Tsukiji, Chūō, Tokyo), the firm is Japan's third largest adverti ...

's attempts to exercise control of the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise in the United States, particularly in terms of selling the rights to the latest anime series, ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal , stylized as Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL, is a Japanese manga and anime series and the third spin-off of the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise, after the preceding ''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's''. The manga began serialization in Shueisha's ''V Jump'' magazine from Dece ...

'', which was due to be pitched at the Licensing International Expo on June 14. However, on June 2, 2011, bankruptcy judge Shelley Chapman issued a

court order A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying out o ...

on TV Tokyo and NAS for an automatic stay on the U.S. ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' license and said that the trial will proceed in two phases. The first phase is whether the contractual termination was valid, and the second is how much money 4Kids would owe the companies. The first phase of the trial began on August 29, 2011. On October 27, 2011, 4Kids and the executives of former financial company

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before Bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Gol ...

reached a deal, after Lehman had improperly invested most of 4Kids funds in auction rate securities. 4Kids received $500,000 from the deal. Chapman later ruled that the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' license is still in effect due to TV Tokyo, NAS and ADK not terminating the agreement properly. On February 29, 2012, there was an amicable settlement of the lawsuit between 4Kids Entertainment and Asatsu-DK (ADK) and TV Tokyo over the license of the Yu-Gi-Oh! property. On May 1, 2012, Kidsco Media Ventures LLC, an affiliate of

Saban Capital Group Saban Capital Group LLC is an American investment firm based in Los Angeles, California focused on media, entertainment, and communications investments. Formed in 2010 by Haim Saban, Saban Capital Group owns Saban Films, part of Univision Commu ...

, placed a bid to acquire some of 4Kids' assets, including the US rights to the ''

'' franchise and The CW4Kids block, for $10 million. On June 5, 2012, 4Kids commenced an auction between Kidsco and 4K Acquisition which was then adjourned so 4Kids, Kidsco, and 4K Acquisition could consider an alternative transaction. On June 15, 2012, 4Kids filed a notice outlining a proposed deal in which its assets would be divided between Kidsco and 4K Acquisition which was finalised on June 26, 2012. The deal saw 4K Acquisition acquire the US rights to the ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' franchise and KidsCo acquire 4Kids' other assets including the agreements for ''

Dragon Ball Z ''Dragon Ball Z'' is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. Part of the ''Dragon Ball'' media franchise, it is the sequel to the 1986 '' Dragon Ball'' anime series and adapts the latter 325 chapters of the original ...

'', ''

Cubix '' Cubix'' (Korean: 큐빅스; retitled 로보짱 큐빅스 for the KBS broadcast; subtitled ''Robots for Everyone'' in the United States) is a South Korean animated television series created by Cinepix. 4Kids Entertainment acquired the rights ...

'' and The CW Network's Toonzai Saturday morning programming block. On August 14, 2012, it was announced through a quarterly report that 4Kids Entertainment had discontinued operations of four operating divisions: 4Kids Ad Sales Inc., 4Kids Productions Inc., 4Kids Entertainment Music Inc., and 4Kids Entertainment Home Video, Inc. due to their continued lack of profitability. On September 13, 2012, it was revealed through a quarterly report that on August 16, 2012, the Board of Directors of 4Kids Entertainment determined to discontinue the operations of its UK subsidiary, 4Kids Entertainment International Ltd., which became effective on September 30, 2012. On December 5, 2012, 4Kids Entertainment announced that it had ended a dispute (over the so-called ''Pokémon'' agreement) with The Pokémon Company International under which TPCi will get a $1 million general unsecured claim against the debtor.

2012–2016: Rebrand as 4Licensing Corporation

A meeting was scheduled on December 13, 2012, to confirm 4Kids' plan to exit bankruptcy. The same day, the New York bankruptcy judge sent 4Kids Entertainment Inc. on its way out of Chapter 11 protection Thursday, overruling an objection by the American Kennel Club Inc. over a licensing agreement and approving its reorganization plan, which calls for the full payment of claims. On December 21, 2012, 4Kids Entertainment was renamed 4Licensing Corporation.

2016–2017: Second bankruptcy and closure

On September 21, 2016, 4Licensing Corporation filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy; the bankruptcy plan became effective on February 7, 2017, and the company immediately ceased operations thereafter.

Licenses and productions

4Kids Entertainment licensed a wide variety of media products, ranging from

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

s and television programs to toy lines featuring the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. 4Kids focused on licensing content for the children's market.Pennington, Steven.
Alfred R. Kahn
. Anime News Network. Retrieved April 24, 2005. including content for both boys and girls. Many of its licenses came from dubs of Japanese anime, including ''

Fighting Foodons is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by and serialized in ''Comic BonBon'' in 1998. It was adapted into an anime television series which aired on NHK-BS2 satellite channel from December 11, 2001 to June 25, 2002. It also receiv ...

'', and ''

Shaman King is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroyuki Takei. It follows the adventures of Yoh Asakura as he attempts to hone his shaman skills to become the Shaman King by winning the Shaman Fight. Takei chose shamanism as the ma ...

'', while others are

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

animations or properties like ''

Chaotic Chaotic was originally a Danish trading card game. It expanded to an online game in America which then became a television program based on the game. The program was able to be seen on 4Kids TV (Fox affiliates, nationwide), Jetix, The CW4Kid ...

'' or '' Back to the Future: The Animated Series''. Most programs were either licensed out to local stations, or broadcast on their dedicated programming block

. Typically, 4Kids would retain several properties on hiatus (such as ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! GX ''Yu-Gi-Oh! GX'', also known in Japan as , is an anime spin-off and sequel series to the original ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'' anime. It aired in Japan on TV Tokyo from October 6, 2004 to March 26, 2008, and was succeeded by ''Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's''. ''Yu-Gi ...

''), or in production to allow for turnover of their existing products. 4Kids also licensed, and merchandised, a number of non-animation based products, such as calendars like ''The Dog'', and toys like ''

''.

Back catalogues

FilmRise FilmRise is a New York City–based film and television studio and streaming network, which has become one of the largest independent providers of content to ad-supported streaming (AVOD) platforms, in addition to providing the largest free direc ...

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

RLJE Films RLJ Entertainment (formerly Image Entertainment) is an American film production company and home video distributor, distributing film and television productions in North America, with approximately 3,200 exclusive DVD titles and approximately 340 ...

Konami , is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company, video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machin ...

(

Konami Cross Media NY Konami Cross Media NY, Inc. (formerly 4Kids Productions) is an American production company owned by Konami. It was formerly a subsidiary of 4Kids Entertainment (which later became 4Licensing Corporation) and is responsible for producing English-l ...

) *

Discotek Media Discotek Media is an American entertainment company based in Altamonte Springs, Florida, focused on distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. Formed in 2005, Discotek primarily focuses on licensing retro titles fr ...

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of ...

(

Entertainment One Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television se ...

) *

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

Media Blasters Media Blasters, sometimes abbreviated as MB, is an American entertainment corporation that was founded by John Sirabella in 1997 and is based in New York City. It is in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American ...

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...

(formerly

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

)

Executive management

This is a list of

Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

s that ran 4Kids Entertainment.

Chief executive officers

* June 1990–December 1990:

Robert Kotick Robert A. Kotick (born 1963) is an American businessman who serves as the chief executive officer (CEO) of Activision Blizzard. He became CEO of Activision in 1991 after purchasing a company stake the previous year. Kotick engineered a merger ...

* March 12, 1991 – January 11, 2011:

Alfred R. Kahn Alfred Robert Kahn (born January 18, 1947) is an American executive. From 1991 to 2011, he was chairman and CEO of 4Kids Entertainment, a company that is a global provider of children's entertainment and merchandise licensing. He previously led ...

* January 11, 2011 – September 30, 2012: Michael Goldstein * October 16, 2012 – February 29, 2016: Bruce R. Foster

Criticism and controversy

During its operation as 4Kids Entertainment, the company faced intense criticism from viewers over the company's extensive editing and localization of the

and other non-American series they licensed. Practices like censorship, story editing, music editing, and their "Americanization" of Japanese culture references, which were changed to be more American. One example included the alteration of rice balls to jelly donuts in their dub of the original ''Pokémon'' anime. At the 2019 Fan Expo Canada,

Eric Stuart Eric Stuart is an American voice actor and musician who worked for 4Kids Entertainment, NYAV Post, and Central Park Media. Early life Stuart was born in Brooklyn, New York to a modern dancer mother and a criminal attorney father. Voice act ...

, who did the voice of Brock in the 4Kids dub of ''Pokémon'', and the voice of Seto Kaiba in the English dub of ''Yu-Gi-Oh!'', and who was also part of the production side, mentioned why 4Kids' dubs had this censorship. He explained that American culture has different sensitivity to certain content compared to Japanese culture, and networks on Saturday mornings had standards that would forbid certain inappropriate content like firearms, sexual references, religious references, display or mention of death, alcohol, cigarettes, and other content that is considered offensive to American audiences. As the censorship is dictated by the networks and not the production company itself, 4Kids would submit the scripts and footage of their dubs to the networks their dubs air on, and then the executives of those networks would review them. Then after they reviewed it, they would tell 4Kids to cut out certain scenes and edit inappropriate content to something particular like change a cigarette to a

lollipop A lollipop is a type of sugar candy usually consisting of hard candy mounted on a stick and intended for sucking or licking. Different informal terms are used in different places, including lolly, sucker, sticky-pop, etc. Lollipops are availa ...

or change a stone that looks like a

cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...

to something non-religious in order for their dubs to pass the network's standards. He also pointed out that ''Pokémon'', and anime as a whole, wouldn't be as wildly popular as it is today if companies like 4Kids didn't air it on network television instead of being in the back of a video store. At the 2016 Metrocon, Eric Stuart also explained the "Americanization" in 4Kids' dubs. He stated that those edits were actually international edits. When companies like 4Kids purchase the licensing to Japanese anime, the anime not only was redubbed into English but also redubbed into multiple languages because companies like 4Kids were used to distribute the anime to other countries by using their own dubs and licensing them to other countries to have their dubs be used to distribute the anime. The Japanese food products being changed and Japanese references being removed were requested by those Japanese anime companies because they wanted their anime to be distributed worldwide and wanted international audiences to relate to their products much easier. So while the Japanese anime companies remove the Japanese text on signs, 4Kids removed the scenes involving Japanese references and changed the names of the Japanese food products like rice balls to something more international like donuts while only occasionally changing the animation to the foods since making animation changes causes rise in production costs and they already have to make plenty of animation changes in their dubs. A March 2006 study by the

Parents Television Council The Parents Television and Media Council (PTMC), formerly the Parents Television Council (PTC), is an American media advocacy group founded by conservative Christian activist L. Brent Bozell III in 1995, which advocates for what it considers t ...

, a conservative advocacy group, on violence in children's television programs claimed that the 4Kids dub of ''

'' was still too violent for children.

References

This article contains quotations fro
Leisure Concepts
at the ThunderCats wiki, which is available under
Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) license
* CC BY-SA icon

This article contains quotations fro
Mike Germakian
at the ThunderCats wiki, which is available under
Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) license

External links

4Licensing Corporation
(archive)
4kidsent.com
(archive) * {{DEFAULTSORT:4Kids Entertainment American animation studios Anime companies Anime and manga controversies Animation controversies in television Brokered programming Children's television Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange American companies established in 1970 Mass media companies disestablished in 2017 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2011 Dubbing (filmmaking) Mass media companies based in New York City Television censorship in the United States Television production companies of the United States Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2016 Mass media companies established in 1970 1970 establishments in New York City 2017 disestablishments in New York (state)