Animaxis is reporting that videogame maker Konami has sold all 20 million of its shares in the troubled Japanese toymaker Takara.  Konami's holdings constituted 22% of all Takara shares and represented by far the biggest block of shares.  Konami, which bought the Takara shares in 2000, sold them to the Index Corporation, a cellular phone systems developer and wireless content provider.  Just as in the U.S., Japanese media service companies have been forging alliances with content providers.  The effects of the shift from Konami to the Index Corporation on Takara are hard to gauge at this time, but more than just Takara is involved.

In 2003 Takara bought 51% of Broccoli, the Japanese company that owns the anime company Synch Point, the U.S.-based manga publisher Broccoli Books, and the Japanese retail chain Anime Gamers.  Broccoli Books has developed into a successful (if somewhat minor) player in the U.S. manga market thanks to the success of its Juvenile Orion and Di Gi Charat releases.

When Konami made its investment in Takara in 2000, the toy company was struggling, but quickly bounced back in subsequent years thanks to the popularity of its Beyblade hi-tech spinning tops (licensed by Hasbro for U.S. release -- Hasbro has had a long and fruitful relationship with Takara).  However Takara has been unable to come up with another hit toy to replace Beyblade and the company's fortunes have waned as the popularity of it Beyblade line has faded over the past few years.