parent Kadokawa Corporation has confirmed that Sony has in fact expressed formal interest in acquiring the company.
The proposed acquisition was first by Reuters and Nikkei, each citing their own separate sources saying a deal was in the works. In a released today acknowledging those reports, Kadokawa said that while no formal announcement about a possible buyout has been made, "the company has received an initial letter of intent 
to acquire the company's shares."
Kadokawa added that "no decision has been made at this time," but given how these things generally work, the receipt of a letter of intent indicates that the process is fairly far along: The initial chit-chat and wheeling-dealing is over, and everyone is more or less prepared to move forward. A regulatory body could halt the acquisition (although given how that worked out with , I can't say my confidence in the ability of government agencies to keep big companies in line is at an all-time high) but aside from that, it's very likely that this deal will be done.
Snapping up Kadokawa would be a big get for Sony. FromSoft is obviously a crown jewel, but Kadokawa [[link]] has its fingers in many pies, particularly anime and manga development and publication; it also owns, through its 
Dwango subsidiary, Danganronpa studio Spike Chunsoft. In its latest , [[link]] Kadokawa reported significantly more income from its "publication/IP creation" operations (books, manga, and so on) and animation/film than gaming. Sony has shown a clear interest in owning more of that space in recent years, after acquiring Funimation and Crunchyroll . Earlier this year Sony looked into buying Infocom, one of Japan's largest online comic platforms, though a private equity company .
The downsides are obvious—media consolidation is a scourge upon the land and all that—but I think at this point the best we can realistically hope for is that Kadokawa's employees come out the other side in better shape than those left behind by and . I can't say my confidence in that is especially high [[link]] right now either.