In the 1980's Japanese investment in Hollywood was the big new thing. They bought out a few major studios, but after the take-over, it seems every studio produced flop after flop! Rumours in Hollywood were that the studios, under American management did this deliberately to milk the Japanese! Perhaps one front on the economic war on Japan. Matsushita finally had to sell MCA/Universal at a $2 billion dollar market loss. Sony managed to hold on and still owns Columbia/Sony Pictures.
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How Japan got mugged in Hollywood… in 1989 Sony paid $3.4 billion for Columbia Pictures, owner of the Columbia and Tri-Star studios, and in 1990 Matsushita paid $6.1 billion for MCA, owner of Universal Studios -- still the biggest-ever Japanese takeover in America.....Neither Sony nor Matsushita is likely to get a decent return on its investment in Hollywood in this century, if ever.
