REVEALED: Why Bushiroad Decided To Sell NJPW

The reason for Bushiroad's sale of New Japan Pro-Wrestling has been revealed.

It was announced in May that Bushiroad would be transferring their majority stake in NJPW to TV Asahi and CyberAgent, with New Japan set to become a consolidated subsidiary of TV Asahi when the deal is completed on June 30. CyberAgent and TV Asahi are scheduled to each own 46.3 per cent of NJPW, with the price of the sale being ¥3.597 billion, or approximately $22.535 million. TV Asahi already owned 22 per cent of NJPW.

Bushiroad had been the owners of New Japan since 2012 and Japanese publication Weekly Gendai has reported that Bushiroad began to consider selling NJPW in 2025 after feeling New Japan had peaked profit-wise. The company approached TV Asahi about a deal in February of this year.

"Bushiroad felt they had reached the limits of how much profit they could make from New Japan Pro-Wrestling, so they had been considering selling it since around last year. That’s when, around February, they approached the upper management of TV Asahi, which has been broadcasting New Japan matches for many years," Weekly Gendai wrote.

TV Asahi felt limited with owning NJPW on their own, which resulted in the company bringing in CyberAgent as part of the deal.

TV Asahi are long-time partners of NJPW, while CyberAgent is an entertainment conglomerate that co-owns the ABEMA streaming service with TV Asahi. CyberFight, a subsidiary of CyberAgent, meanwhile, are the owners of Pro Wrestling NOAH, DDT Pro-Wrestling, Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling, and Ganbare Pro-Wrestling. This opens up the possibility of holding co-promoted shows with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, but "future plans are still undecided," according to Weekly Gendai.

Antonio Inoki was the majority shareholder of New Japan Pro-Wrestling from when we founded the company in 1972 until YUKE's acquired his majority stake in 2005. YUKE's stake was sold to Bushiroad in 2012.