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Square Enix was formed as the result of a merger between Square Co. and the Enix Corporation. The merger occurred in April 1, 2003, with Square stockholders receiving 0.89 shares of stock in the new company compared to Enix stockholders receiving a one-to-one trade. At the time, 80% of Square Enix staff were made up of former Square Co. employees. As part of the merger, many of the top officials within Square Co. assumed the leadership roles in the new corporate hierarchy, including president Yōichi Wada, who was appointed president of the corporation. The original founder of Enix, Yasuhiro Fukushima, is currently the largest shareholder of the corporation. The company also owns Taito Corporation and Square Enix Europe (which owns fellow publisher and developer Eidos Interactive). Eidos will cease to exist as a publisher, as it has been absorbed into a new subsidiary Square Enix Europe. Square Enix will now publish all of Eidos' owned IPs and currently owns Eidos' development studios. Eidos was most well known for publishing Tomb Raider and Hitman which Square Enix will now publish and is also well known for the Championship Manager series of games. |