A distinct foundation-model company
Preferred Elements was established by a company split on November 1, 2023 to develop and commercialize multimodal foundation models. PFN’s later account identifies it as a wholly owned subsidiary. Keeping the company distinct preserves who developed models during that period, rather than treating its name as a PLaMo product brand. [1][3]
Its place in the PLaMo release
The February 2025 PLaMo 2 8B announcement credits PFN and PFE together. It published a pretrained model with conditional commercial licensing. PFE’s development role and PFN’s commercial distribution role formed parts of the same model program. [2][3]
An announced reintegration
PFN announced an absorption merger scheduled for July 1, 2025, with PFN surviving and PFE disappearing. The source describes the planned transfer of business, intellectual property and obligations. It is a pre-merger announcement, so it does not independently confirm the completed legal step or justify a separate successor organization. [3]
Sources
- マルチモーダル基盤モデルの開発、販売を行う新会社Preferred Elementsを設立
Preferred Networks · Nov 1, 2023
- PLaMo 2の8Bモデルをオープンなライセンスで公開: 条件付きで商用利用可能なPLaMo Community Licenseについて
Preferred Networks · Feb 25, 2025
- PLaMoの開発・社会実装強化のためPFNとPFEを統合
Preferred Networks · May 13, 2025