The Pokémon Company International/History/Early History

The first president of Pokémon USA was Tatsumi Kimishima. In 2002, he was replaced by Akira Chiba, when Kimishima was promoted to President of Nintendo of America following Minoru Arakawa's retirement.

In 2003, the distribution agreement with Wizards of the Coast for the Pokémon trading cards ended. After this, Pokémon USA took over as the manufacturer and distributor of the.

On December 31, 2005, the licensing and merchandising agreement between 4Kids Entertainment and Pokémon USA expired. This agreement included the dubbing of the so Pokémon USA switched to producing the English dub in association with TAJ Productions which had worked with 4Kids on seasons one through five. The recasting of the main characters created a large controversy. In May of the same year, announced that it would be dropping all anime from its autumn lineup in its move to, which included the Pokémon anime. Pokémon USA went into negotiations with to air past and future episodes of Pokémon, which turned out successful. In June, a Master Toy licensing agreement was signed with.

In 2007, Kenji Okubo became the President when Akira Chiba stepped down. In 2008, the production of the dub moved to DuArt Film & Video. Red Central was commissioned by Pokémon UK to create a style guide for Europe.

In 2008, a partnership with was announced. Network would distribute the Pokémon movies and on. It was also announced (now ) would air the next season of the Pokémon anime.

In February 2009, PUSA announced a deal with in which stores would have a dedicated Pokémon Boutique until the end of the year. A deal was also announced with Universal Studios Home Entertainment, in which the company will be distributing the Pokémon movies on.