San Francisco, CA, January 11, 2006—Simon & Schuster, Inc., and VIZ Media, LLC. (VIZ Media), one of the entertainment industry's most innovative and comprehensive manga and animation licensing and publishing companies, announced today that, Simon & Schuster, will handle domestic sales for all lines of books from VIZ Media’s book division effective January 2006.

Simon & Schuster has been the distributor of Viz Media manga titles since June 2004, providing retail and wholesale distribution services including warehousing, fulfillment, customer service, and accounts receivable collection for its library of manga titles. The new agreement expands the relationship to utilize Simon & Schuster’s Sales and Distribution Division to further raise the visibility of the manga genre and continue to grow revenue streams from traditional book retailers as well as from newly emerging channels. Manga is now the fastest growing segment of the publishing industry and VIZ Media titles like FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST, NARUTO and INUYASHA regularly appear as top sellers on national retail sales charts.

“The vast reach and sales expertise of Simon & Schuster will play a key role in our strategy to be the dominant manga publisher in North America,” says Liza Coppola, vice president of sales and marketing for VIZ Media. “The success of Simon & Schuster overseeing our domestic distribution operations will now be bolstered further by the talents of their sales personnel. We look forward to their efforts helping to raise the profile and revenue for manga in North America to an even higher level.”

 “We are pleased that our relationship with VIZ Media will now include managing sales of their manga titles, “said Joe Bulger, Vice President, Client Management and Business Development for Simon & Schuster.  “Our Sales and Distribution Division, led by Larry Norton, extends into every market niche through thousands of retail outlets nationwide, and bringing VIZ Media titles into virtually every corner of the country, growing the numbers of readers for every title, and providing them with the full array of first class sales and distribution services will be our goal.”

About Simon & Schuster, Inc.

About VIZ Media, LLC

Headquartered in San Francisco, CA, VIZ Media, LLC (VIZ Media), is one of the most comprehensive and innovative companies in the field of manga publishing, animation and entertainment licensing of Japanese content. Owned by three of Japan's largest creators and licensors of manga and animation, Shueisha Inc., Shogakukan Inc., and Shogakukan Production Co., Ltd. (ShoPro Japan), VIZ Media is a leader in the publishing and distribution of Japanese manga for English speaking audiences in North America and a global licensor of Japanese manga and animation. The company offers an integrated product line including, magazines such as SHONEN JUMP and Shojo Beat, graphic novels, videos, DVDs, audio soundtracks and develops and markets animated entertainment from initial production, television placement and distribution, to merchandise licensing and promotions for audiences and consumers of all ages.

Contact VIZ Media at 295 Bay Street, San Francisco, CA 94133; Phone (415) 546-7073; Fax (415) 546-7086; and web site at www.viz.com.

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