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 Logo used since 2006 | |
 Headquarters inKatsushika, Tokyo | |
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Native name | 株式会社タカラトミー |
Romanized name | Kabushikigaisha takara tomī |
| Company type | Public |
| TYO:7867 | |
| Industry |
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| Predecessor |
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| Founded | March 1, 2006 (19 years ago) (2006-03-01)(original Tomy, 1924 (102 years ago) (1924); former Takara, 1955 (71 years ago) (1955)) |
| Headquarters | 7-9-10, Tateishi,,, Japan |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people |
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| Brands |
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| Revenue |  ¥250.24 billion (FY 2024–2025)[2] |
| ¥24.87 billion (FY 2024-2025)[2] | |
| ¥16.35 billion (FY 2024–2025)[2] | |
| Total assets | ¥164.6 billion (FY 2024–2025)[2] |
| Total equity | ¥101.5 billion (FY 2024–2025)[2] |
| Owner | Tomiyama family through Tsukasa Fudōsan KK (7.94%) |
Number of employees | 2423 (Consolidated as of March 31, 2024)[3] |
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| Subsidiaries |
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| Website | takaratomy.co.jp |
Tomy Company, Ltd.[1] (株式会社タカラトミー,Kabushikigaisha Takara Tomī) (trading asTakara Tomy in Asia andTomy elsewhere) is a Japanese toy company. It was established in 1924 by Eiichirō Tomiyama asTomiyama Toy Manufacturing Company (富山玩具製作所), became known for creating popular toys like theB-29 friction toy and luck-based gamePop-up Pirate. In 2006, Tomy merged with another toy manufacturer,Takara, and although the English company name remained the same, it became Takara Tomy in Asia. It has its headquarters inKatsushika, Tokyo.
The company was named Tomy as an abridgement of Tomiyama, which was the founder's surname. Starting as a manufacturer, Tomy had the largest product development team in the toy industry and plaudits for its technology. Nonetheless, by its third generation, president Mikitaro Tomiyama decided to streamline the company to be more competitive with wholesalerBandai. Bandai developed its products more quickly, which was more appealing to television properties that required a fast turnaround. Despite internal and external opposition, Tomiyama was determined to aggressively pursue TV licenses such asAkakage,Giant Robo andOsomatsu-kun.
Tomiyama was shocked when his son told him that Tomy's toys were bad and that he wanted to work for Bandai when he was an adult. In response, Tomiyama created the moderately successfulZettai Muteki Raijin-Oh (thenGenki Bakuhatsu Ganbaruger), but the product development team followed these withNekketsu Saikyō Go-Saurer, which was a catastrophic failure. It became common wisdom within the industry that Tomy could not support a multimedia franchise.[citation needed] However, Tomy established a relationship withShogakukan and created the successfulWedding Peach andLet's & Go.
Tomy learned about the growing popularity ofPokémon through the monthlyCoroCoro Comic and obtained the commercial rights. Bandai at the time was busy with its big hit,Tamagotchi, and was not interested in Pokémon. Tomy acquired the rights to commercialize a wide range of merchandise, mainly toys, and released the "Monster Collection" of figures next year. ThePokémon anime became a huge hit, and sales of related products doubled. Tomy, which had been the third largest company in the toy industry since the 1980s, rose to second place in 1997.[citation needed]
In 2001, competitor Takara's hit franchiseBeyblade and Pokémon's slump saw Takara regaining second place and Tomy falling back to third place. However, Beyblade subsequently faltered, which adversely affected Takara's fortunes. Tomy merged with the suffering company, and they became Takara Tomy).[citation needed]
The company decided to use the name "Tomy" in international subsidiaries, and "Takara Tomy" in Japan, because Tomy had built considerable international brand recognition while Takara's products (Microman,Transformers,Battle Beasts,Beyblade,B-Daman etc.) had been sold and branded by other toy companies such asHasbro. Additionally, the financial cost of rebranding was prohibitive.[4]
In Western media, the Takara Tomy merger was typically characterised as a 'takeover' of Takara by Tomy (likely because several years of losses had put Takara in a financially weakened state at the time of the merger (although Takara did have significantly higher sales than Tomy)). However, the companies' management teams had previously discussed merging (including at times when Takara appeared stronger). Under Japanese corporate law, the move was a merger of both companies on an equal basis.
Post-merger media speculation about the control of brands from the Takara Tomy merger arose from the new use of a "TOMY" copyright on all packaging (including former Takara brands shipped by Hasbro) (but this was merely a consequence of the decision to use only the Tomy name in international subsidiaries). In Japan,Takara Tomy continues to use both Tomy and Takara as distinct brand names on toy ranges which originated in each separate company, and most new toy ranges or stand-alone products now carry the new Takara Tomy brand.
Takara purchased a majority stake inTatsunoko Production in June 2005. The studio then became a full subsidiary of Takara Tomy following the March 2006 merger[citation needed] untilNippon Television bought out the majority of Tatsunoko's stake in 2014. Tomy UK was founded in 1982 for the sale and distribution of Tomy products inEurope, and it has successfully brought toys such as Zoids, and games likePop-up Pirate, to the West. Tomy UK's slogan has traditionally been "Trust Tomy". In 2006, Tomy UK launched a website on which consumers can buy online from Tomy's catalogue.[5] In early 2011, Takara-Tomy acquiredRC2 Corporation and the RC2 sub-brandLearning Curve, which included The First Years,Lamaze, andCompass.[citation needed]
Takara-Tomy has manufactured a broad range of products based on its own properties which include, from the Tomy side:Tomica,Plarail,Zoids,Idaten Jump,Nohohon Zoku and Tomy branded baby care products, and, from the Takara side:Space Pets,Choro-Q (also known as Penny Racers),Transformers,Beyblade, B-Daman, Koeda-chan (also known as Treena) andMicroman. The merged Takara-Tomy also produces and/or sells a wide variety of toy and game brands under license, such asThomas & Friends,Astro Boy,Pokémon,Duel Masters,Disney,Naruto,The Game of Life (also known asLife Game),Rock Man (also known asMega Man),Wedding Peach,Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch,My Hero Academia,Sakura Kinomoto,Sakura Kinomoto: Clear Card,Slayers,Revolutionary Girl Utena,Kirarin Revolution,Sugarbunnies andAnimal Crossing. Tomy's rights to these licenses vary by region. One of the first examples ofproduct synergy for the merged company was the combining ofTakara's Jinsei Game (Game of Life) license and Tomy's Pokémon license to produce a Pokémon Jinsei Game.
Tomy sells many products worldwide, including baby and pre-school toys,baby monitors, mechanical and electronic games, consumer electronics, children'sarts and crafts products, and a vast range of toys suited to girls or boys. They make a large selection ofDisney,Pokémon andThomas the Tank Engine merchandise. They also publishvideo games in Japan (mostly based onZoids andNarutoanime series), and are responsible for the distribution of someHasbro products in Japan, such asPlay-Doh,Jenga andMonopoly. The company was formerly responsible for distribution of theMy Little Pony products in Japan beforeBushiroad acquired the distribution rights to them starting with the franchise'sFriendship Is Magic line (thoughthe animated television series was owned byHasbro). Later in 2015, after Bushiroad disowned the distribution rights,Sega Toys reacquired the rights to all generations of the franchise before selling the rights back to Hasbro.[citation needed]
A list of notable products include:
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