Short answers, pulled from the story.
DWANGO stands for Dial-up Wide-Area Network Game Operation. The original service was a U.S.-based platform offering online multiplayer for video games over dial-up connections. It was shut down in 1998, but the Japanese company that grew from it continued as a telecommunications and media company.
Niconico is a popular Japanese video sharing site run by Dwango. It is known for allowing viewer comments to scroll across videos in real time, making it a distinctive platform in Japan's online media landscape.
Dwango and Kadokawa Corporation merged on the 1st of October 2014, forming a new holding company called Kadokawa Dwango Corporation. In February 2019, Dwango was reorganized to become a direct subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation rather than of the holding company.
Dwango bought the game developers Spike and Chunsoft separately in 2005 when they were still two distinct companies. After seven years of operating them independently, Dwango merged the two studios into Spike Chunsoft in 2012 and retains 100% ownership.
Nintendo purchased 612,200 shares in Dwango, representing 1.5% of the company, in November 2013 at the request of Dwango's head, Nobuo Kawakami.
GeeXPlus is Kadokawa's influencer talent agency, owned by Dwango, founded on the 1st of July 2019. Its stated goal is connecting Japanese brands to global influencers through promotion planning, production, and distribution. Its production arm, GeeXProduction, was announced in 2025 at Anime Expo.