Industry map/Entertainment, Media & Leisure

Publishing & Bookstores industry map

Who earns the money in Publishing & Bookstores, and who keeps it. When a company spans several industries, only the relevant segment is counted.

FY2025 · 41 companies · ¥846.2B

Industry map

Companies ordered by revenue, connected by ownership (major shareholders). Arrows point from the shareholder to the investee.

Industry size (revenue)
¥846.2B

YoY +4.3%

Companies
41
Avg. salary(parent only)
¥6.1M

Avg. age 41.1

Industry weather
Sunny

Operating income +4.0%

Kadokawa[9468]

Publication, IP Creation

#1
Revenue
¥153.6B▲3.3%
Operating income
¥4.05B▼51.6%

Margin 2.6%

Whole company: Revenue ¥282.9B · Net income ¥1.28B

Avg. salary ¥8.7M · 41.6(parent only)

Maruzen CHI Holdings[3159]

Retail Store Chain and Online Store Management + 2 more

#2
Revenue
¥134.7B▲15.5%
Operating income
¥5.44B▲54.3%

Margin 4.0%

Whole company: Revenue ¥185.1B · Net income ¥3.33B

Avg. salary ¥6M · 51.6(parent only)

Media DO[3678]

E-book distribution business + 1 more

#3
Revenue
¥108.5B▲6.5%
Operating income
¥4.29B▲6.5%

Margin 4.0%

Whole company: Revenue ¥108.5B · Net income ¥1.82B

Avg. salary ¥6.1M · 36.2(parent only)

Gakken Holdings[9470]

Education

#4
Revenue
¥95.4B▲3.8%
Operating income
¥4.96B▲20.3%

Margin 5.2%

Whole company: Revenue ¥199.1B · Net income ¥3.58B

Avg. salary ¥9.6M · 44.3(parent only)

Zenrin[9474]

#5
Revenue
¥64.3B▼0.1%
Operating income
¥3.5B▼10.7%

Margin 5.4%

Avg. salary ¥6M · 47.1(parent only)

Square Enix Holdings[9684]

Publication Segment

#6
Revenue
¥29.7B▼3.4%
Operating income
¥9.85B▼10.3%

Margin 33.2%

Whole company: Revenue ¥297.7B · Net income ¥29.6B

Avg. salary ¥13.2M · 48.0(parent only)

halmek holdings[7119]

Halmek business

#7
Revenue
¥27.5B▲3.0%
Operating income
¥1.69B▲30.0%

Margin 6.1%

Whole company: Revenue ¥33.8B · Net income ¥1.05B

Avg. salary ¥8.4M · 46.2(parent only)

Village Vanguard[2769]

#8
Revenue
¥25B▲0.7%
Operating income
-¥935M

Margin -3.7%

Avg. salary ¥3.9M · 41.5(parent only)

Akatsuki[3932]

Game,Comic

#9
Revenue
¥22.1B▼1.1%
Operating income
¥7.97B▲92.9%

Margin 36.0%

Whole company: Revenue ¥25.9B · Net income ¥5.65B

Avg. salary ¥9.3M · 37.8(parent only)

Sanyodo Holdings[3058]

#10▲
Revenue
¥17.2B▲3.9%
Operating income
¥268.5M▲117.2%

Margin 1.6%

Avg. salary ¥4.9M · 48.4(parent only)

Beaglee[3981]

Platform segment + 1 more

#11▼
Revenue
¥16.7B▼9.4%
Operating income
¥1.37B▼23.4%

Margin 8.2%

Whole company: Revenue ¥16.7B · Net income ¥683.7M

Avg. salary ¥6.2M · 36.2(parent only)

AlphaPolis.[9467]

Publishing segments

#12
Revenue
¥16.1B
Operating income
¥3.58B

Margin 22.2%

Whole company: Revenue ¥16.6B · Net income ¥2.32B

Avg. salary ¥6.7M · 34.8(parent only)

※ Card revenue and operating income cover only the segment in this industry; “Whole company” shows consolidated revenue and net income.

Other companies: TOP Culture · Papyless · Bunkyodo Group Holdings · TO Books · OVERLAP Holdings · Bunkeido · Misumi · Scinex · Creek & River · Fujisan Magazine Service · Starts Publishing · Shobunsha Holdings · SE Holdings and Incubations · Chuokeizai-Sha Holdings · Torico · Japan Craft Holdings · and factory · Amazia · IG Port · Hope · Hotman · Seki · Daiwa · WellcoHoldings · JN Group · Applied · Flier · Forside · note

The weather is derived mechanically from year-over-year totals of revenue and operating income (both up = sunny, both down = rainy).

Industry takeaways

AI summary (figures come from filings)

  • KADOKAWA leads with ¥153.6B from publishing and IP, 19% of the listed total.
  • Number two, MEDIA DO (¥101.1B), doesn't publish books at all: it passes publishers' e-books on to online stores.
  • Profit runs the other way from size. KADOKAWA's operating margin is 2.6%, while Square Enix's publishing arm makes 33.2% and light-novel house OVERLAP 35.5%.
  • Bookstores split: Maruzen CHI's store and online arm grew +23.7%, but TOP CULTURE, a TSUTAYA franchisee, fell -8.0% and lost money.
Switch years to see how the map shifts

Who earns the money

Area = revenue from businesses in this industry. Color = operating margin.

LossHigh margin(middle = 0% margin)

Who makes a profit

Across = revenue (log scale), up = operating margin, bubble size = operating income.

Ranking and momentum

RankCompany (business)RevenueShareOp. marginCAGRFCF*
1KadokawaPublication, IP Creation¥153.6B18.2%2.6%—-¥6.08B
2Maruzen CHI HoldingsRetail Store Chain and Online Store Management + 2 more¥134.7B15.9%4.0%+0.8%¥1.36B
3Media DOE-book distribution business + 1 more¥108.5B12.8%4.0%+0.9%¥1.91B
4Gakken HoldingsEducation¥95.4B11.3%5.2%+4.9%¥4.21B
5Zenrin¥64.3B7.6%5.5%+2.1%¥1.84B
6Square Enix HoldingsPublication Segment¥29.7B3.5%33.2%+0.7%¥44.2B
7halmek holdingsHalmek business¥27.5B3.3%6.2%+10.1%¥1.34B
8Village Vanguard¥25B2.9%-3.8%-3.1%¥331M
9AkatsukiGame,Comic¥22.1B2.6%36.0%—¥2.1B
10▲1Sanyodo Holdings¥17.2B2.0%1.6%-2.2%-¥257.7M
11▼1BeagleePlatform segment + 1 more¥16.7B2.0%8.2%-2.7%¥1.27B
12newAlphaPolis.Publishing segments¥16.1B1.9%22.2%—¥1.88B
13▼1TOP CultureTSUTAYA bookstore business¥15.2B1.8%-3.9%-12.4%¥776.8M
14▼1PapylessE-book Business Segment + 1 more¥14.7B1.7%3.3%—¥418M
15▼1Bunkyodo Group Holdings¥14.5B1.7%-0.6%-6.3%-¥58.3M
16newTO Books¥9.43B1.1%12.2%—¥114.1M
17▼1OVERLAP Holdings¥8.54B1.0%35.4%+4.7%—
18▼3BunkeidoPublication¥8.39B1.0%16.8%-2.9%¥58.7M
19▼2MisumiLifestyle¥7.61B0.9%2.4%-0.8%¥366M
20▼2ScinexInformation media business¥6.69B0.8%15.4%—¥155.4M
21▲15Creek & RiverCRES field¥6.23B0.7%10.3%—¥1.48B
22▼3Fujisan Magazine ServiceMagazine sales support business¥5.65B0.7%5.2%—¥71.8M
23▼3Starts Publishingpublication¥4.8B0.6%34.3%+10.0%¥729.4M
24▼3Shobunsha HoldingsMedia Business¥4.66B0.6%5.8%+12.0%¥367.1M
25▼3SE Holdings and IncubationsPublishing¥4.03B0.5%13.0%-2.6%¥337M
26▼1Chuokeizai-Sha Holdings¥3.26B0.4%7.2%+0.8%¥359.1M
27newToricoManga¥3.19B0.4%-2.1%—¥39.4M
28▼4Japan Craft HoldingsPublishing Education Business¥3.15B0.4%1.5%—-¥682.2M
29▼3and factoryAPP Business¥3.06B0.4%2.0%—-¥488.8M
30▼7AmaziaEntertainment¥2.79B0.3%0.2%—-¥452.7M
31▼4IG PortPublishing business¥2.22B0.3%15.7%+0.7%-¥2.59B
32▼2HopeJititaiworks¥1.54B0.2%29.0%+62.1%¥169.3M
33▼5HotmanTSUTAYA¥1.36B0.2%-2.2%-11.4%¥643.4M
34▼5SekiPublishing and advertisement agency related¥1.31B0.2%3.4%+4.1%¥7.6M
35▼3DaiwaPublishing industry¥764.6M0.1%2.2%-0.2%¥873.8M
36▼5WellcoHoldingsEducation business¥684M0.1%-17.3%—-¥842M
37▼3JN GroupMetaverse digital contents business¥583.2M0.1%-2.6%—-¥48.7M
38▼5AppliedPublishing and Advertising Business¥362M0.0%10.8%+1.7%¥2.16B
39▼4FlierConsumer business¥354.6M0.0%35.0%—¥25.8M
40newForsideMaster rights business + 1 more¥236.6M0.0%-7.5%—¥612.7M
41▼4noteIP and Content Creation¥61.6M0.0%-22.6%——

* FCF is company-wide (not disclosed by segment). CAGR covers the available years, up to five.

How they make money differently

Where each company's ¥100 of sales goes, and how much it keeps (company-wide).

Ownership links

From the major-shareholder section of annual securities reports.

The company on each card is a major shareholder of the companies listed under it (latest 'major shareholders' disclosure). 50%+ is labelled subsidiary and 20%+ affiliate, based on ownership alone. Stakes under 3% are omitted. Showing up to 24 shareholder cards.

Compare the leaders side by side

All companies in Publishing & Bookstores (by revenue)

All 41 companies in this industry, ranked by revenue in each company's latest fiscal year. For companies that belong through one business segment, the figure is that segment's revenue.

  1. Kadokawa¥153.6B · 2.6%
  2. Maruzen CHI Holdings¥134.7B · 4.0%
  3. Media DO¥108.5B · 4.0%
  4. Gakken Holdings¥95.4B · 5.2%
  5. Zenrin¥64.3B · 5.5%
  6. Square Enix Holdings¥29.7B · 33.2%
  7. halmek holdings¥27.5B · 6.2%
  8. Village Vanguard¥23.4B · 3.9%
  9. Akatsuki¥22.1B · 36.0%
  10. Sanyodo Holdings¥17.2B · 1.6%
  11. Beaglee¥16.7B · 8.2%
  12. AlphaPolis.¥16.1B · 22.2%
  13. TOP Culture¥15.2B · -3.9%
  14. Papyless¥14.7B · 5.2%
  15. Bunkyodo Group Holdings¥14.5B · -0.6%
  16. TO Books¥11.8B · 16.8%
  17. OVERLAP Holdings¥8.54B · 35.4%
  18. Bunkeido¥8.39B · 16.8%
  19. Misumi¥7.61B · 2.4%
  20. Scinex¥6.69B · 15.4%
  21. Creek & River¥6.23B · 10.3%
  22. Fujisan Magazine Service¥5.65B · 5.2%
  23. Starts Publishing¥4.8B · 34.3%
  24. Shobunsha Holdings¥4.66B · 5.8%
  25. SE Holdings and Incubations¥4.03B · 13.0%
  26. Chuokeizai-Sha Holdings¥3.26B · 7.2%
  27. Torico¥3.19B · -2.1%
  28. and factory¥3.06B · 2.0%
  29. Japan Craft Holdings¥3.06B · 2.7%
  30. Amazia¥2.79B · 0.2%
  31. IG Port¥2.31B · 11.1%
  32. Hope¥1.54B · 29.0%
  33. Hotman¥1.36B · -2.2%
  34. Seki¥1.31B · 3.4%
  35. Daiwa¥764.6M · 2.2%
  36. WellcoHoldings¥684M · -17.3%
  37. JN Group¥583.2M · -2.6%
  38. Applied¥362M · 10.8%
  39. Flier¥354.6M · 35.0%
  40. Forside¥236.6M · -7.5%
  41. note¥61.6M · -22.6%

Revenue · Op. margin

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