On June 24, 2025, Yuya Shimizu, the representative director and CIO of Hibiki Path Advisors (“Hibiki” “we” “our” or “us”) attended the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (the “AGM” or the “meeting”) of AlphaPolis Co., Ltd. ( “AlphaPolis” or “the Company”). The AGM lasted for two hours despite having only one agenda due to active questions being asked by various shareholders.
What hit us in a good way was the fact that the atmosphere in the AGM was so lively, constructive and energetic, and we were also far more excited when we came out than when going in to the AGM!
Stock price has skyrocketed since last year, driven by strong profit growth and also announced its first-ever dividend followed by plan to increase dividend further this year. Shareholders were generally happy and was curious to understand the details of President Kajimoto’s thoughts asking various questions including business strategy, balance sheet management, ownership structure, etc. It was very impressive that Mr. Kajimoto, unlike many other CEOs in Japanese companies would do, never looked at his notes, spoke his own words, with passion and determination.
We cannot feature all questions here as the discussion was extensive, but the key takeaway, in one word, is his “AMBITION FOR GROWTH”. President Kajimoto seemed yet to be frustrated with the current level of business size and industry positioning, even though the business has been a great success since it has gone public.
Although AlphaPolis is already a niche top publisher in Isekai-mono (stories about being transferred to another world), he emphasized that he will further improve on things such as extending IP lifetime profitability by leveraging the contents into the animation business, further expansion of the publishing lineup, and, most importantly, overseas penetration. Luckily, we heard a direct voice from the President this time at the AGM, committing to tackle these issues and to unleash the company’s potential in the foreseeable future.
With that said, what intrigued us the most in his words were; “To be the top in the industry, to be respected by others, attracting best in class talent, doing interesting businesses with others, we definitely need to create MEGA HIT content that makes all the world go crazy for, such as ONE PIECE and Kimetsu no Yaiba — and we are committed in doing this.” This shows his real ambition to become one of the top players in the industry.
On the other hand, we, and other shareholders did express concerns on its family concentrated ownership structure as well as its excess cash being held on balance sheet. President Kajimoto responded that AlphaPolis will prioritize on GROWTH on top of everything, and he wanted to keep whatever options available in his hands – including shares and cash. We typically urge our investee companies that, as public companies, they should improve corporate value by enhancing liquidity and increasing the shareholder base, which in turn uplifts the market valuation to better position themselves to utilize its strong stock as means of currency to do accretive M&As. We strongly believe that this principle still applies to AlphaPolis as well.
However, under his strong ambition for explosive growth, we are less concerned in the case of Alphapolis since it is not trying to sit on cash and be laid back, as some companies actually do. Kajimoto’s commitment and ambition is to be seen in tandem with KADOKAWA as the very top leader in the industry. His stance — as being a major shareholder — to maintain a firm grip on swift decision-making and aggressively pursue growth opportunities without hesitation clearly reflects the confidence he has gained through the Company’s impressive growth trajectory. To achieve his vision, his large ownership appears to be a deliberate strategy.
Given the market caps of giants in related sectors such as publishing, animation, IP, and gaming, AlphaPolis’s dream story has not even started yet―we cannot wait to see the dream come true!
Figure 1: Comparison of Giants in Publishing, Animation, IP, and Gaming Industries
(Source: Hibiki from Bloomberg)
It was a mind-blowing experience for us to learn about the ambition and committment of President Kajimoto during our first participation in the AGM. We will continue our encouragement-type engagement with the company like AlphaPolis, which has a proven record and strong will to make things happen!
This post does not constitute a solicitation to subscribe for, or a recommendation to buy or sell, any specific securities, nor does it constitute investment, legal, tax, accounting, or other advice.