Headquartered in Tokyo, Shueisha is the largest manga publisher in the world, with an alleged market share in Japan of 30%. It belongs to the Hitotsubashi Group, a keiretsu (holding structure) that owns the Shogakukan, Shueisha and Hakusensha publishing groups. Shueisha is headquartered next to Shogakukan.

The company was founded in 1926 as the entertainment-related publishing division of Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The following year Shueisha became a separate, independent company.

Shueisha's Jump Comics division is a large publisher of Manga. Shueisha later founded Hakusensha, which has gone on to become another of Japan's most successful publishers. Shueisha operates many imprints, including Homesha.

Many titles published in its Weekly Shonen Jump have enjoyed circulation of over 1 million copies in the graphic novel form. Dragon Ball has sold over 150 million copies overall, and One Piece has sold over 140 million, according to company information from VIZ Media.

Shueisha, together with Shogakukan, owns Viz Media, one of the major publishers of manga in the United States.

Since 1967, Shogakukan, together with Shueisha and Hakusensha, operates ShoPro to distribute, license and merchandise many of the most popular magazines and comic books in Japan. VIZ Media is among the licensing partners.

Key Company Developments 2012

Financial:

Revenues at Shueisha have declined modestly let continuously over the past 5 years.

Ownership, Mergers & Acquisition, Internal Organization:

Shueisha, along with Shogakukan, Shueisha and Hakusensha publishing groups, are owned by The Hitotsubashi Group.

International:

Yaoi, a romance Manga popular among women, have been started under VIZ Media's SuBlime label in the US, in a joint effort with Animate Ltd. and Libre Publishing Co.

Digital:

Shueisha launched a dedicated e-book store.

S-Manga.net is a portal site covering content on Shueisha's comics, on-sale dates for remixes and magazines, media adaptation information, and samples of new releases. Shueisha also operates several subscription sites, notably VYJ, and Shupure.net.

Bestselling Authors & Titles:

Sheuisha’s bestselling Manga-based “Bunko” fiction includes romance, history, and mystery series, along with classics and translations. In the comics division, ongoing series go back to the 1950s and 1960s (with Ribon since 1955, or Margaret since 1963).

In 2011, and continuing its efforts to translate and adapt also international comics to the Japanese market, Sheuisha via ShoPro released a translation of Belgium comic artist Schuiten’s “Les Cités Obscures”, with an initial 400 page set of three volumes.

Key points for Analysis & Conclusions:

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Earlier Developments:

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