Short answers, pulled from the story.
Seiji Horibuchi, originally from Tokushima Prefecture in Japan, founded Viz Communications in 1986 using two hundred thousand dollars in startup capital provided by the Japanese publisher Shogakukan. The company merged with ShoPro Entertainment in 2005 to become Viz Media.
Viz Media is jointly owned by Japanese publishing conglomerates Shogakukan and Shueisha, as well as Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions (ShoPro). Shogakukan was the original investor, providing startup capital in 1986, while Shueisha became a joint owner in 2002.
In 2017, Viz Media was the largest publisher of graphic novels in the United States in the bookstore market, with a 23% share of the market.
Ranma 1/2, a comedy series, became Viz's first major hit after the company acquired its license. It was described as an instant hit and helped drive the company's early growth in the American market.
The first issue of Shonen Jump, which debuted in November 2002 with a January 2003 cover date, required three printings to meet demand and sold over three hundred thousand copies. By 2008, the magazine had a monthly circulation of two hundred fifteen thousand copies.
Haikasoru is a Japanese science fiction novel imprint launched by Viz Media in 2009. Its inaugural titles included works by Issui Ogawa, Otsuichi, Hiroshi Sakurazaka, and Hosuke Nojiri, as well as an expanded edition of Battle Royale by Koshu Takami. The imprint is distributed to trade by Simon & Schuster, and its 2010 release of Project Itoh's novel Harmony won a Special Citation Philip K. Dick Award.