Short answers, pulled from the story.
Kojima Productions formed in April 2005 as a subsidiary of the Japanese giant Konami. The team started with around one hundred people and later grew to over two hundred employees during development on Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
Konami announced a major restructuring of its game development operations on the 16th of March 2015 that led to the disappearance of the Kojima Productions branding from company websites and office buildings. Hideo Kojima remained committed to finishing The Phantom Pain despite these corporate changes.
Hideo Kojima set a strict limit of one hundred employees for this new venture when he created the independent studio. He cited Media Molecule as an inspiration due to its relaxed atmosphere and high number of female staff members while aiming to create an intimate studio that felt like family rather than an army.
The first major release from the independent studio arrived in November 2019 with Death Stranding on PlayStation 4. A Director's Cut version expanded the experience across multiple platforms including PlayStation 5, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, Xbox Series X/S, and Amazon Luna by late 2021.
Kojima Productions continues development on two major titles beyond Death Stranding 2: On the Beach which are OD and Physint. OD is an upcoming horror game developed in partnership with Xbox Game Studios while Physint is described as both a film and a video game created in collaboration with Columbia Pictures.