Short answers, pulled from the story.
Justin Sevakis launched Anime News Network in July 1998 from a small office in the United States. The site began as a simple news aggregator before evolving into a comprehensive database tracking anime production and manga serialization.
Christopher Macdonald joined the editorial staff as CEO in May 2000, replacing the original editor-in-chief Isaac Alexander. Macdonald transformed the site from a hobbyist project into a professional media entity capable of competing with traditional publishing houses.
The site launched its collaborative Encyclopedia on the 30th of June 2002, which aggregated information on anime and manga titles, staff, and production companies. This move established the site as an authoritative voice in the industry by providing a level of detail previously unavailable to Western audiences.
A hacker seized control of the animenewsnetwork.com domain on the 7th of August 2017, compromising the site's Twitter accounts and the personal accounts of CEO Christopher Macdonald and Executive Editor Zac Bertschy. The staff temporarily operated from animenewsnetwork.cc while fighting to regain control of their original domain.
Kadokawa Corporation announced an agreement to acquire a majority of the site's media business on the 1st of November 2022 through a new subsidiary named Kadokawa World Entertainment. Christopher Macdonald was appointed as the publisher of Kadokawa World Entertainment to ensure continuity in the site's editorial direction.