Sony

INTRODUCTION

Sony Corporation is a Japanese multinational

conglomerate corporation headquartered in Kōnan,
Minato, Tokyo. Its diversified business includes
consumer and professional electronics, gaming,
entertainment and financial services.The company
owns the largest music entertainment business in the
world, the largest video game console business and
one of the largest video game publishing businesses, Sony's Headquarters Complex at Sony
City in Minato, Tokyo
and is one of the leading manufacturers of electronic products for the consumer and
professional markets, and a leading player in the film and television entertainment
industry.Sony was ranked 97th on the 2018 Fortune Global 500 list.

Sony Corporation is the electronics business unit and the parent company of the Sony
Group, which is engaged in business through its four operating components: electronics (AV,
IT & communication products, semiconductors, video games, network services and medical
business), motion pictures (movies and TV shows), music (record labels and music publishing)
and financial services (banking and insurance.

These make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the
world. The group consists of Sony Corporation, Sony Pictures, Sony Mobile, Sony Interactive
Entertainment, Sony Music, Sony Financial Holdings, and others.Sony is among the
semiconductor sales leaders and since 2015, the fifth-largest television manufacturer in the
world after Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, TCL and Hisense.

The company's current slogan is Be Moved. Their former slogans were The One and
Only (1979–1982), It's a Sony (1982–2005), like.no.other (2005–2009)and make.believe
(2009–2013).Sony has a weak tie to the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) corporate
group, the successor to the Mitsui group.
CEO

Sony Corp.’s promotion of Kenichiro Yoshida to chief

executive officer elevates a veteran executive who was
instrumental to the electronics icon’s turnaround by
pushing through painful changes. After leading Sony
through a recovery since 2012, Kazuo Hirai will step down
to become chairman of the Tokyo-based company.
Yoshida, 58, is highly regarded for his role in bringing
financial discipline after years of losses from consumer
electronics. Kenichiro Yoshida

The pair have steered the Japanese company to recovery, with projections for record full-year
earnings this fiscal year.Hirai brought Yoshida into the top ranks from the internet services unit
in November 2013 and half a year later appointed him as CFO and his right-hand man. Yoshida
used the mandate to cut jobs, sell off Sony’s iconic Vaio personal-computer business, spin out
its TV set unit and rein in the company’s destructive market share ambitions in smartphones.

HISTORY

Sony is one of the world's most widely known electronics companies. Founded in Japan, the
company has grown from humble roots to a multinational giant. From the tape player to the
Walkman to OLED TV, Sony's tradition of innovation has made it a profitable company for
more than 60 years. Kazuo Hirai, who joined the company in 1984 and worked his way up
through its media and consumer electronics divisions, became its president and CEO in 2012.

Founding

Sony was founded after World War II in 1946 in Tokyo under the name Tokyo
Telecommunications Engineering Corp. by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita. The company
started with less than 200,000 yen--slightly more than $1,500--and began researching. In less
than a year, the company released its first product, a power megaphone. In 1950, it released
Japan's first tape recorder.
Going Global

When Sony looked to go global with its products in the mid-1950s, it looked for a new name
because the initials TTK were already taken. The company came up with its name by
combining the Latin word for sound, "sonus," and the American word "sonny." The company
wanted a word that was not found in any language for trademarking reasons. Many within the
company questioned the change because of the time spent on making its original name known
in the business world, but in 1958, the name was officially changed to Sony Corp. In 1960,
Sony launched its U.S. branch. Eight years later, Sony opened a branch in the United Kingdom.
The company continued to grow in the 1970s, when it expanded into Spain and France in 1973.
German operations were started in 1986.

Original Products

Sony has a long history of introducing technologies. In 1955, Sony introduced Japan's first
transistor radio, the TR-55. Soon after, the company launched a pocket-sized transistor radio.
In 1960, Sony released the world's first direct-view portable TV, the TV8-301. The company
continued improving the TV and within two years produced the tiniest all-transistor TV. In
1989, Sony released the Handycam, a portable, easy-to-use, 8 mm camcorder. In 2003, the
company released the world's first Blu-ray disc player. In 2005, Sony upgraded the Handycam
to the High Definition Handycam, creating the world's smallest video camera.

Walkman

Arguably Sony's most influential product was the Walkman, first released in 1979. The small,
lightweight portable tape player revolutionized the way people listened to music, by making at
an individual and personal rather than a shared experience. In 1984, Sony followed that initial
success with its release of the Discman, the company's first portable CD player. The company's
dominance faded as tapes and CDs gave way to digital music, but the Walkman's influence can
be seen in modern mobile devices.

Content and Media

Sony is also a major player in the music and film industries through its Sony Music and Sony
Pictures divisions. Sony Music began as a joint venture with American label CBS in 1968, but
became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony in 1988. The company acquired filmmaker
Columbia Studios in 1989, along with the rights to its back catalogue of movies, making Sony
Pictures Entertainment an immediate force in the industry. These two divisions represent more
than diversification on Sony's part, forming part of a deliberate corporate strategy. Controlling
its own content ensured that Sony's technological innovations would never be thwarted by lack
of industry support, as Blu-ray's triumph over the rival HD-DVD format would illustrate.

Gaming Success

Rivals Nintendo and Sega resurrected the gaming console market in the late 1980s, after the
spectacular crash of early pioneers such as Atari. Seeing the potential for a new contender with
deep pockets and superior technological expertise, Sony formed a new division called Sony
Computer Entertainment in 1993 to exploit this market niche. Its Playstation line of consoles
and their portable counterparts have proven to be reliable moneymakers for the company.

Sony Today

As of March 2013, Sony employed more than $146,000 people worldwide. The company's
year-end revenue in March 2014 was over $7.5 billion, with an operating loss for the year of
over $1.2 billion U.S.. Much of that loss came from the company's decision to shut down its
troubled PC manufacturing operation, as well as lower-than-expected sales of smartphones and
ongoing price pressure from lower-cost rivals in its audio and video divisions. Its mobile
communications division, gaming division, imaging-products division and Sony Pictures
division remain strong, providing the bulk of the company's projected revenue growth for 2015.

CORPORATE INFORMATION

Shareholders

Sony is a kabushiki gaisha registered to the Tokyo Stock Exchange in Japan and the New York
Stock Exchange for overseas trading. As of 30 September 2017, there are 484,812 shareholders
and 1,264,649,260 shares issued. Most of these shares are held by foreign institutions and
investors.

 10.7% (136,130,000): Japan Trustee Services Bank, Ltd. (trust account)

 8.7% (109,396,000): Citigroup Inc.
  6.1% (77,467,000): JPMorgan Chase & Co.
 5.6% (71,767,000): State Street Corporation
 5.6% (70,720,000): The Master Trust Bank of Japan, Ltd. (trust account)

Finances

Sony is one of Japan's largest corporations by revenue. It had revenues of ¥6.493 trillion in
2012. It also maintains large reserves of cash, with ¥895 billion on hand as of 2012. In May
2012, Sony shares were valued at about $15 billion.

The company was immensely profitable throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, in part because
of the success of its new PlayStation line. The company encountered financial difficulty in the
mid- to late-2000s due to a number of factors: the global financial crisis, increased competition
for PlayStation, and the devastating Japanese earthquake of 2011. The company faced three
consecutive years of losses leading up to 2011. While noting the negative effects of intervening
circumstances such as natural disasters and fluctuating currency exchange rates, the Financial
Times criticized the company for its "lack of resilience" and "inability to gauge the economy.".

In September 2000 Sony had a market capitalization of $100 billion; but by December 2011 it
had plunged to $18 billion, reflecting falling prospects for Sony but also reflecting grossly
inflated share prices of the 'dot.com' years. Net worth, as measured by stockholder equity, has
steadily grown from $17.9 billion in March 2002 to $35.6 billion through December
2011.Earnings yield (inverse of the price to earnings ratio) has never been more than 5% and
usually much less; thus Sony has always traded in over-priced ranges with the exception of the
2009 market bottom.On 9 December 2008, Sony Corporation announced that it would be
cutting 8,000 jobs, dropping 8,000 contractors and reducing its global manufacturing sites by
10% to save $1.1 billion per year.

In April 2012, Sony announced that it would reduce its workforce by 10,000 (6% of its
employee base) as part of CEO Hirai's effort to get the company back into the black. This came
after a loss of 520 billion yen (roughly US$6.36 billion) for fiscal 2012, the worst since the
company was founded. Accumulation loss for the past four years was 919.32 billion-yen. Sony
planned to increase its marketing expenses by 30% in 2012. 1,000 of the jobs cut come from
the company's mobile phone unit's workforce. 700 jobs will be cut in the 2012–2013 fiscal year
and the remaining 300 in the following fiscal year