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There’s no clearer sign of animes cultural ascendance than the box office haul of Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle. The film, which hit U.S. theaters two weeks ago, has pulled in more than $555 million globally, including more than $104 million in North America, making it a bonafide hit for Sony Pictures, which distributed it outside of Japan through its anime streaming arm, Crunchyroll. The movie’s success reflects audiences’ growing interest in anime. A survey from market research firm Dentsu found that, 31% of people worldwide said they consumed anime at least weekly, with a full 50% of Gen Z reporting they watch it. That’s translated into a boom in Crunchyroll subscriptions. The anime streaming service, which is home to more than 2,000 titles (including Demon Slayer), counted 17 million paid subscribers worldwide in May 2025more than triple the number it had in 2021. [Screenshot: courtesy Crunchyroll] Crunchyroll will soon offer those subscribers a way to go even deeper on the source material of some of their favorite shows, with the debut a manga reader app. The company shared a first look exclusively with Fast Company. Set to launch October 9 on mobile and October 15 on web in the United States and Canada, Crunchyroll Manga will debut with hundreds of titles, including the manga behind some of Crunchyrolls top series, including Jujutsu Kaisen, Kaiju No. 8, and Apothecary Diaries. For subscribers to Crunchyrolls $15.99-per-month Ultimate tier, access to Crunchyroll Manga will be free. It will be available as a $3.50 add-on for the $11.99 Mega Fan tier, and a $4 add-on to the $7.99 Fan tier. Its a feature that users have been asking for, says chief content officer Asa Suehira. Crunchyroll has been doing a lot of surveys over the past few years and digital manga has always been the most desired feature on our platform, he says. This is compared to shorter content, video games, music, or even discounts or credits toward merchandise. [Screenshot: courtesy Crunchyroll] Building a bridge between anime and manga From a user perspective, Crunchyroll Manga is designed to function much like the companys flagship streaming app, with important connections between the two. If a title in the manga app has a corresponding anime series on Crunchyroll, users can choose to start watching the show straight from the manga app. Their device will simply switch to the streaming app if its installed. Similarly, if a Crunchyroll anime series has a corresponding manga, viewers will have the option of clicking over to start reading it. Theres data saying that 40% of manga readers discover manga through anime, Suehira says. We want to create a new habit of discovery through manga, and being able to watch the anime as well. Crunchyroll has been clever about how it entices anime fans who might discover the genre through other streaming services. Notably, it will license shows like Jujutsu Kaisen to Netflix, but exclusively stream the latest season on its platform. Crunchyroll Manga offers an opportunity for it to replicate that approach in reverse. The service will include manga volumes for series that exclusively stream elsewhere, including Delicious in Dungeon and The Summer Hikaru Diedtwo anime adaptations that Netflix exclusively distributes. Fans of those series will have sign up for Crunchyroll if they they want to read the manga. The manga and anime apps will also be linked by user profiles. Any updates made to a profiles content restrictions in one will be be mirrored in the other. The main appeal, though, is the amount of manga fans will be able to access. Suehira says that by partnering with Link-u, which has developed digital manga infrastructure in Japan, we were able to work more closely with different publishers. [Screenshot: courtesy Crunchyroll] Making publishers happy Crunchyroll Manga is actually the second time the company has offered manga. A previous offering shut down in 2023. Suehira says part of that platforms downfall was because Crunchyrolls licensing agreement with manga publishers limited how much users could read. It also limited the opportunities for us to work with the publishers, Suehira says. Crunchyroll Manga will launch with a library of titles from publishers like Viz Media, AlphaPolis, and Square Enix. Crunchyroll says additional publishers will be added in the coming months, including Shueisha, which publishes the Demon Slayer manga. Part of what has gotten these companies on board, Suehira says, is Crunchyroll Mangas use of a revenue-sharing model that compensates publishers based on user engagement, similar to how the anime platform pays studios. Crunchyroll Manga also offers a legitimate way for burgeoning anime fans to read source material. Suehira says 15 of the top 20 internet piracy sites include anime and manga, an that manga represents 70% of global publishing piracy. We want [Crunchyroll Manga] to be a solution to the privacy market and really contribute to the ecosystem in Japan, Suehira says, adding that the app includes features the prevent screenshots and screen recording. Part of working with publishers means tracking a titles popularity, which can inform payments, but also potentially predict a future hit adaptation. [Publishers] want to understand how the crowd is reacting to certain manga or an IP, he says. Data on consumption and fan reactions are things we could work together with our partners in Japan to expand the opportunitywhether thats turning into an anime or selling merchandise.
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E-Commerce
The risk of a partial U.S. government shutdown beginning next week is rising as congressional Democrats and Republicans hit an impasse over how to continue to fund the federal government. A shutdown could affect financial markets by limiting the operations of financial regulators and delaying the publication of key economic data. How might markets react? Historically, markets have tended to shrug off shutdowns. However, this time could be different. A prolonged shutdown risks delaying or canceling key economic data releases investors use to assess macroeconomic trends, such as the monthly employment and inflation reports, analysts at Nomura said in a note this week. That would mean the Federal Reserve is flying blind, making it more likely to stick with its own economic projections of two 25-basis-point rate cuts for the rest of 2025, the analysts said. With investors unable to assess the extent of a U.S. economic slowdown, the Treasury yield curve could steepen further as rate cuts get priced in with more conviction, leading to a wider gap between short- and long-dated Treasury yields, TD Securities said in a note. A lengthy government shutdown could also affect some market participants’ ability to conduct complex trades for which they may require regulatory guidance. What happens to financial regulators? While U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration had not widely shared its contingency plans as of Tuesday, a shutdown would likely reduce the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to a skeletal staff, according to its October 2024 plan for a lapse in government funding. This would severely limit the agencys ability to review corporate filings, investigate misconduct, and oversee markets. Likewise, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission would furlough almost all of its employees and cease most market oversight activity, according to its 2023 contingency plan. Previous government shutdowns have caused delays in the CFTC publishing reports on traders’ positions in futures and options markets. The banking regulators and consumer watchdog, which are not funded by congressional appropriations, will remain functional. In 2019, a protracted government shutdown slowed down some of Trump’s de-regulatory efforts in part because of staff furloughs at the Office of the Federal Register, which must formally publish all steps in the rule-writing process, Reuters reported at the time. Will IPOs be affected? Yes. A shutdown would likely freeze the IPO pipeline. Companies planning to go public would be unable to proceed without the SEC’s approval, potentially dampening momentum in the equity capital markets, which have enjoyed an IPO boom in recent months. Michelle Price, Reuters
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E-Commerce
As the rise of artificial intelligence continues, companies operating in this space or relying on the technology are finding that they have two inextricable needs: data centers that can run and process the AI, and access to ample energy to power those vast data centers. One new company, Fermi America, aims to offer solutions for both these needs. And this week, Fermi announced its plans for an upcoming initial public offering and dual stock listings. Heres what you need to know about Fermi America and its planned IPO. What is Fermi America? Fermi America is a very young company. It was only founded this year, just nine months ago in January 2025. The company is so new that its website is still a relatively barebones affair. Given the youth of the company, its no surprise that the majority of Americans have most likely never heard of it. But they have heard of its cofounder, Rick Perry, the former Texas governor who ran as a GOP contender for president in 2012 and 2016. After unsuccessful presidential bids, Perry was appointed as the 14th United States Secretary of Energy, during President Donald Trumps first term in office. In addition to Perry, Fermi America was also cofounded by Toby Neugebauer, a former comanaging partner of Quantum Energy. Fermi America intends to be a provider of data and power centers that other companies can use to host their AI needs. But I say intends to, because Fermi America doesnt actually provide any services yet. Heck, it doesnt even have any infrastructure yet to provide its services. What Fermi America does have is a lease for 5,236 acres of land owned by Texas Tech University, which is where Fermi plans to build a “HyperGrid” in an undertaking dubbed Project Matador. What is Project Matador? Project Matador is the name given to Fermi Americas HyperGrid project. This HyperGrid will be a combined data and power center that other companies will pay to lease space on to run their AI needs. In its Form S-11 Registration Statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Fermi says Project Matador is a multi-gigawatt energy and data center development campus that will ultimately be called the Advanced Energy and Intelligence Campus at Texas Tech University. Fermi says the mission of this campus is to deliver up to 11 gigawatts (GW) of low-carbon, HyperRedundant, and on-demand power directly to the worlds most compute-intensive businesses. It says it will achieve this mission by using nuclear, solar, and natural gas energy to power the facility. By 2038, the company says it aims for the campus to deliver up to 11 gigawatts of power to AI data centers. It also says it expects the first 1.1 gigawatts of power to be online by the end of 2026. However, all this is hypothetical for now. To date, Fermi America has not actually started constructing Project Matador. The company still needs to secure funding for the campuss construction. It aims to raise some of that money through investments, including funds raised from its IPO. Yet the fact that Project Matador is little more than an idea at this point is something potential investors should consider. As Fermi America warns in its Form S-11, our business model is highly dependent on the successful construction, development, leasing, and continued maintenance of Project Matador. When is Fermi Americas IPO? Fermi America has not announced a date for its planned IPO yet. This week’s announcement is for Fermis IPO roadshow, which is when executives of a company planning to go public meet with potential investors. Roadshows are designed to generate hype and interest in a companys initial public offering. What is Fermi Americas stock ticker? Fermi Americas shares will trade under the stock ticker FRMI. What exchange will Fermi Americas shares trade on? Fermi America shares will trade on not one, but two stock markets. The company says it intends to list its shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market in the U.S. and on the London Stock Exchange in the UK. What is the IPO share price of FRMI? An exact IPO price for Fermis shares has not been determined yet. But the company says it is targeting a price range of between $18 and $22 per share for its public offering. How many FRMI shares will be available in its IPO? Fermi says it plans to make 25 million shares of its common stock available in its IPO. The company says it will also grant its underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 3.75 million shares. How much will Fermi America raise in its IPO? With an expected IPO price of between $18 and $22 per share, Fermi is expected to raise between $450 million and $550 million in its IPO. How much is Fermi America worth? Reuters notes that under the companys current IPO price estimates, Firmi America is targeting a valuation of up to $13 billion. What will Firmi America use its IPO proceeds for? According to its roadshow announcement, Fermi America says it intends to use the net proceeds from its IPO to support the continued growth and development of Fermi America’s business, to secure personnel, to increase its financial flexibility, and for general corporate purposes, including, but not limited to, procurement, construction, and installation of long lead-time items.
Category:
E-Commerce
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