Vernalossom Co., Ltd. (株式会社Vernalossom, Kabushiki-gaisha Vernalossom), formerly AKS Co., Ltd. (株式会社AKS, Kabushiki-gaisha AKS), is a Japanese talent agency headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The company is involved in various entertainment-related industries, including music, film and merchandise production.
History
AKS has managed the Japanese idol groups AKB48, SKE48,[1]NMB48,[2]HKT48,[3] and NGT48, as well as the Japanese promotional activities of South Korean-Japanese idol group, Iz*One.
AKB48 employed a so-called "transfer system" for the first to tenth generation members, where members started out under AKS management, and should receive a contract offer from other artist management companies after a predetermined period.[4] Members in the next generations would be managed directly by AKS, although they could still accept offers to transfer to other agencies.
In 2016, ownership of NMB48 was transferred from Kyoraku Yoshimoto Holdings to AKS, putting all the 48 groups at the time under AKS's banner.[2]
In 2019, the talent agency KeyHolder acquired SKE48 and placed it under the management of its subsidiary SKE, Inc., renamed in June to Zest, Inc.;[5][6] AKS received a 20% stake in the subsidiary.[7] It was also announced that Yasushi Akimoto is no longer part of AKS management, but still being involved as the creative producer.[8] In June, NMB48 was sold back to Kyoraku Yoshimoto Holdings.[2]
In 2020, AKS was restructured into Vernalossom and transferred ownership of their three remaining Japanese idol groups to three independent business entities, while Vernalossom would retain control of the AKB48 sister groups outside Japan.[9][10] AKB48 would be managed by DH, headed by Kazuki Uchimura, who is also the CEO of the AKB48 Group costume maker, Osare Company. HKT48 would be managed by Mercury[11] and NGT48 by Flora,[12] both of which are subsidiaries of the holding company Sproot, itself co-owned by Line Corporation, Septeni Holdings [ja],[13] and the advertising company Piala.[14] In May, it was announced that KeyHolder has also bought out Vernalossom's subsidiary North River, Inc., a transportation company which also owned 50% of Nogizaka46's management company.[15]
On 1 April 2023, it was announced on Vernalossom's homepage that all of the company's business operations would be transferred to a branch subsidiary company named Superball, effective from the same day.[16]
