Sony was founded in 1946 as initiallyTokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K.[b] byMasaru Ibuka andAkio Morita. In 1958, the company adopted the nameSony Corporation.[c] Initially an electronics firm, it gained early recognition for products such as theTR-55 transistor radio and theCV-2000 home video tape recorder, contributing significantly to Japan'spost-war economic recovery.[7][8] After Ibuka's retirement in the 1970s, Morita served as chairman until 1994, overseeing Sony's rise as a global brand recognized for innovation inconsumer electronics.[9] Landmark products included theTrinitron color television, theWalkman portable audio player, and the co-development of thecompact disc.[7][10]
Expanding beyond electronics, Sony acquiredColumbia Records in 1988 andColumbia Pictures in 1989, while also entering the home video game console market with the launch of thePlayStation in 1994. In Japan, the company further diversified by establishing a financial services division, that would be turned into a separate company in September 2025, with the group maintaining 20% of the shares. In 2021, the company was renamed Sony Group Corporation as it transitioned into aholding company structure, with its electronics business continuing under the name Sony Corporation.
Sony's first product was an electric rice cooker in the late 1940s.[22]
Sony began in the wake of World War II. In 1946,Masaru Ibuka started an electronics shop in Shirokiya,[23] a department store building in theNihonbashi area ofTokyo. The company started with a capital of ¥190,000[24] and a total of eight employees.[25] On 7 May 1946, Ibuka was joined byAkio Morita to establish a company called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (東京通信工業,Tōkyō Tsūshin Kōgyō; Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation).[26] The company built Japan's firsttape recorder, called the Type-G.[26][27] In 1958, the company changed its name to "Sony".[28]
Name
Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo founders Morita and Ibuka realized that to achieve success and grow, their business had to expand to the global market, which required labeling their products with a short and easybrand name.[29] While looking for a romanized name, they at first strongly considered using their initials, TTK. The primary reason they did not is that the railway companyTokyo Kyuko was known as TTK.[26] The company occasionally used the syllabic acronym "Totsuko" in Japan, but during his visit to the United States, Morita discovered that Americans had trouble pronouncing that name. Another early name that was tried out for a while was "Tokyo Teletech" untilAkio Morita discovered that there was an American company already using Teletech as a brand name.[30]
The name "Sony" was chosen for the brand as a mix of two words: one was theLatin word "sonus", which is the root of sonic and sound, and the other was "sonny", a common slang term used in 1950s America to call a young boy.[31][32] In 1950s Japan, "sonny boys" was aloan word in Japanese, which connoted smart and presentable young men, whichAkio Morita andMasaru Ibuka considered themselves to be.[31]
The first Sony-branded product, theTR-55transistor radio, appeared in 1955, but the company name did not change to Sony until January 1958.[33]
At the time of the change, it was extremely unusual for a Japanese company to useRoman letters to spell its name instead of writing it inkanji. The move was not without opposition: TTK's principal bank at the time,Mitsui, had strong feelings about the name. They pushed for a name such as Sony Electronic Industries, or Sony Teletech. Akio Morita was firm, however, as he did not want the company name tied to any particular industry. Eventually, both Ibuka and Mitsui Bank's chairman gave their approval.[26]
Globalization
According to Schiffer, Sony's TR-63 radio "cracked open the U.S. market and launched the new industry of consumer microelectronics."[34] By the mid-1950s, American teens had begun buying portable transistor radios in huge numbers, helping to propel the fledgling industry from an estimated 100,000 units in 1955 to 5 million units by the end of 1968.[35]
Advertising for transistor radio modelsTR-6,TR-63,TR-72 (1957), andTR-1819 "Cube Radio" (1966)
Sony co-founder Akio Morita founded Sony Corporation of America in 1960.[25] In the process, he was struck by the mobility of employees between American companies, which was unheard of in Japan at that time.[25] When he returned to Japan, he encouraged experienced, middle-aged employees of other companies to reevaluate their careers and consider joining Sony.[25] The company filled many positions in this manner, and inspired other Japanese companies to do the same.[25] Moreover, Sony played a major role in the development of Japan as a powerful exporter during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s,[36] supplying theU.S. Military with bomb parts used in theVietnam War.[37] It also helped to significantly improve American perceptions of "made in Japan" products.[38] Known for its production quality, Sony was able to charge above-market prices for its consumer electronics and resisted lowering prices.[38]
In 1971, Masaru Ibuka handed the position of president over to his co-founder Akio Morita. Sony begana life insurance company in 1979, one of its many peripheral businesses. Amid a global recession in the early 1980s, electronics sales dropped and the company was forced to cut prices.[38] Sony's profits fell sharply. "It's over for Sony", one analyst concluded. "The company's best days are behind it."[38]
Around that time,Norio Ohga took up the role of president. He encouraged the development of the compact disc (CD) in the 1970s and 1980s, and of thePlayStation in the early 1990s. Ohga went on to purchaseCBS Records in 1988 andColumbia Pictures in 1989, greatly expanding Sony's media presence. Ohga would succeed Morita as chief executive officer in 1989.[39][citation needed]
Under the vision of co-founder Akio Morita[40] and his successors, the company had aggressively expanded into new businesses.[36] Part of its motivation for doing so was the pursuit of "convergence", linking film, music and digital electronics via the Internet.[36] This expansion proved unrewarding and unprofitable,[36] threatening Sony's ability to charge a premium on its products[40] as well as its brand name.[40] In 2005,Howard Stringer replacedNobuyuki Idei as chief executive officer, marking the first time that a foreigner had run a major Japanese electronics firm. Stringer helped to reinvigorate the company's struggling media businesses, encouraging blockbusters such asSpider-Man while cutting 9,000 jobs.[36] He hoped to sell off peripheral business and focus the company again on electronics.[40] Furthermore, he aimed to increase cooperation between business units,[40] which he described as "silos" operating in isolation from one another.[41] In a bid to provide a unified brand for its global operations, Sony introduced a slogan known as "make.believe" in 2009.[39][citation needed]
A Sony TR-730 transistor radio made in Japan,c. 1960
Despite some successes, the company faced continued struggles in the mid- to late-2000s.[36] In 2012,Kazuo Hirai was promoted to president and CEO, replacing Stringer. Shortly thereafter, Hirai outlined his company-wide initiative, named "One Sony" to revive Sony from years of financial losses and bureaucratic management structure, which proved difficult for former CEO Stringer to accomplish, partly due to differences in business culture and native languages between Stringer and some of Sony's Japanese divisions and subsidiaries. Hirai outlined three major areas of focus for Sony's electronics business, which include imaging technology, gaming and mobile technology, as well as a focus on reducing the major losses from the television business.[42]
In February 2014, Sony announced the sale of itsVaio PC division to a new corporation owned by investment fundJapan Industrial Partners and spinning its TV division into its own corporation as to make it more nimble to turn the unit around from past losses totaling $7.8 billion over a decade.[43] Later that month, they announced that they would be closing 20 stores.[44] In April, the company announced that they would be selling 9.5 million shares inSquare Enix (roughly 8.2 percent of the game company's total shares) in a deal worth approximately $48 million.[45] In May 2014 the company announced it was forming two joint ventures withShanghai Oriental Pearl Group to manufacture and market Sony'sPlayStation game consoles and associated software in China.[46]
In 2015, Sony purchased Toshiba's image sensor business.[47]
It was reported in December 2016 by multiple news outlets that Sony was considering restructuring its U.S. operations by merging its TV & film business, Sony Pictures Entertainment, with its gaming business, Sony Interactive Entertainment. According to the reports, such a restructuring would have placed Sony Pictures under Sony Interactive's CEO, Andrew House, though House would not have taken over day-to-day operations of the film studio.[49][50][51] According to one report, Sony was set to make a final decision on the possibility of the merger of the TV, film, & gaming businesses by the end of its fiscal year in March of the following year (2017).[49]
In 2019, Sony merged its mobile, TV and camera businesses.[55][56]
On 1 April 2020, Sony Electronics Corporation was established as an intermediate holding company to own and oversee its electronics and IT solutions businesses.
On 19 May 2020, the company announced that it would change its name to Sony Group Corporation as of 1 April 2021. Subsequently, Sony Electronics Corporation would be renamed to Sony Corporation.[57] On the same day the company announced that it would turnSony Financial Holdings (currently Sony Financial Group), of which Sony already owns 65.06% of shares, to a wholly owned subsidiary through a takeover bid.[58]
On 1 April 2021, Sony Corporation was renamed Sony Group Corporation. On the same day, Sony Mobile Communications Inc. absorbed Sony Electronics Corporation, Sony Imaging Products & Solutions Inc., and Sony Home Entertainment & Sound Products Inc. and changed its trade name to Sony Corporation.[59]
Sony has historically been notable for creating its own in-house standards for new recording and storage technologies, instead of adopting those of other manufacturers and standards bodies, while its success in the early years owes to a smooth capitalization on theDigital Compact Cassette standard introduced byPhilips,[60] with which Sony went on to enjoy a decades-long technological relationship in various areas. Sony (either alone or with partners) has introduced several of the most popular recording formats, including the 3.5-inchfloppy disk,compact disc andBlu-ray disc.[61]
Video recording
Sony introducedU-matic, the world's firstvideocassette format, in 1971, but the standard was unpopular for domestic use due to the high price.[62] The company subsequently launched theBetamax format in 1975.[63] Sony was involved in thevideotape format war of the early 1980s, when they were marketing theBetamax system for video cassette recorders against theVHS format developed byJVC.[64] In the end, VHS gained critical mass in the marketbase and became the worldwide standard for consumer VCRs.[64]
Betamax is, for all practical purposes, an obsolete format. Sony's professional-orientedcomponent video format calledBetacam, which was derived from Betamax, was used until 2016 when Sony announced it was stopping production of all remaining 1/2-inch video tape recorders and players, including the Digital Betacam format.[65]
In 1985, Sony launched theirHandycam products and theVideo8 format.[66] Video8 and the follow-on hi-bandHi8 format became popular in the consumer camcorder market. In 1987 Sony launched the 4 mm DAT orDigital Audio Tape as a new digital audio tape standard.[67]
Visual display
Sony held a patent for its proprietaryTrinitron until 1996.
Sony introduced the Triluminos Display, the company's proprietary color reproduction enhancing technology, in 2004, featured in the world's firstLED-backlit LCD televisions.[68] It was widely used in other Sony's products as well, including computer monitors, laptops, and smartphones.[69] In 2013, Sony released a new line of televisions with an improved version of the technology, which incorporatedquantum dots in the backlight system. It was the first commercial use of quantum dots.[70][71]
In 2012, the company revealed a prototype of an ultrafine RGBLED display, which it calls theCrystal LED Display.[72]
Audio recording
Sony used the Compact Cassette format in many of its tape recorders and players, including theWalkman, the world's first portable music player.[73] Sony introduced theMiniDisc format in 1992 as an alternative toPhilips DCC orDigital Compact Cassette and as a successor to the Compact Cassette.[74] Since the introduction of MiniDisc, Sony has attempted to promote its own audio compression technologies under theATRAC brand, against the more widely used MP3. Until late 2004, Sony'sNetwork Walkman line of digital portable music players did not support the MP3 standard natively.
In 2004, Sony built upon theMiniDisc format by releasingHi-MD. Hi-MD allows the playback and recording of audio on newly introduced 1 GB Hi-MD discs in addition to playback and recording on regular MiniDiscs. In addition to saving audio on the discs, Hi-MD allows the storage of computer files such as documents, videos and photos.
Audio encoding
In 1993, Sony challenged the industry standardDolby Digital 5.1 surround sound format with a newer and more advanced proprietary motion picture digital audio format calledSDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound).[75] This format employed eight channels (7.1) of audio opposed to just six used in Dolby Digital 5.1 at the time.[75] Ultimately, SDDS has been vastly overshadowed by the preferred DTS (Digital Theatre System) and Dolby Digital standards in the motion picture industry. SDDS was solely developed for use in the theatre circuit; Sony never intended to develop a home theatre version of SDDS.[76][77]
Sony andPhilips jointly developed the Sony-Philips digital interface format (S/PDIF) and the high-fidelity audio systemSACD. The latter became entrenched in a format war withDVD-Audio. Still, neither gained a major foothold with the general public. CDs had been preferred by consumers because of the ubiquitous presence of CD drives in consumer devices until the early 2000s when the iPod and streaming services became available.[78]
In 2015, Sony introducedLDAC, aproprietaryaudio coding technology which allows streaminghigh-resolution audio overBluetooth connections at up to 990 kbit/s at 32 bit/96 kHz. Sony also contributed it as part of theAndroid Open Source Project starting fromAndroid 8.0 "Oreo", enabling every OEM to integrate this standard into their own Android devices freely. However thedecoder library isproprietary, so receiving devices require licenses. On 17 September 2019, theJapan Audio Society (JAS) certified LDAC with theirHi-Res Audio Wireless certification. Currently the only codecs with the Hi-Res Audio Wireless certification are LDAC andLHDC, another competing standard.
Optical storage
Front side of a Sony 200GB Blu-ray disc
Sony demonstrated an optical digital audio disc in 1977 and soon joined hands with Philips, another major contender for the storage technology, to establish a worldwide standard.[79] In 1983, the two companies jointly announced theCompact Disc (CD). In 1984, Sony launched theDiscman series, an expansion of the Walkman brand to portable CD players. Sony began to improve performance and capacity of the novel format. It launched write-onceoptical discs (WO) andmagneto-optical discs which were around 125MB size for the specific use of archival data storage, in 1986 and 1988 respectively.[80]
In the early 1990s, two high-density optical storage standards were being developed: one was the MultiMedia Compact Disc (MMCD), backed by Philips and Sony, and the other was the Super Density Disc (SD), supported byToshiba and many others. Philips and Sony abandoned their MMCD format and agreed upon Toshiba's SD format with only one modification. The unified disc format was calledDVD and was introduced in 1997.
Sony was one of the leading developers of theBlu-ray optical disc format, the newest standard for disc-based content delivery. The first Blu-ray players became commercially available in 2006. The format emerged as the standard for HD media over the competing format, Toshiba'sHD DVD, after a two-year-longhigh-definition optical disc format war.
In 1983, Sony introduced 90 mm micro diskettes, better known as 3.5-inch (89 mm)floppy disks, which it had developed at a time when there were 4" floppy disks, and many variations from different companies, to replace the then on-going 5.25" floppy disks. Sony had great success and the format became dominant. 3.5" floppy disks gradually became obsolete as they were replaced by current media formats. Sony held more than a 70 percent share of the market when it decided to pull the plug on the format in 2010.[82][83]
Sony still developsmagnetic tape storage technologies along withIBM,[84] and are one of only two manufacturers ofLinear Tape-Open (LTO) cartridges.
Flash memory
In 1998, Sony launched theMemory Stick format, theflash memory cards for use in Sony lines of digital cameras and portable music players. It has seen little support outside of Sony's own products, withSecure Digital cards (SD) commanding considerably greater popularity. Sony has made updates to the Memory Stick format withMemory Stick Duo andMemory Stick Micro. The company has also releasedUSB flash drive products, branded under the Micro Vault line.[85]
Communication
Sony introducedFeliCa, a contactless IC card technology primarily used incontactless payment, as a result of the company's joint development and commercialization ofNear-Field Communication (NFC) with Philips. The standard is largely offered in two forms, either chips embedded in smartphones or plastic cards with chips embedded in them. Sony plans to implement this technology in train systems across Asia.[86]
In 2019, Sony launched the ELTRES, the company's proprietary low-power wide-area wireless communication (LPWAN) standard.[87]
Video gaming
Until 1991, Sony had little direct involvement with the video game industry. The company supplied components for other consoles, such as the sound chip for theSuper Famicom fromNintendo, and operated a video game studio,Sony Imagesoft.[88] As part of a joint project between Nintendo and Sony that began as early as 1988, the two companies worked to create aCD-ROM version of the Super Famicom,[89] though Nintendo denied the existence of the Sony deal as late as March 1991.[90] At theConsumer Electronics Show in June 1991, Sony revealed a Super Famicom with a built-in CD-ROM drive, named the "Play Station" (also known asSNES-CD). However, a day after the announcement at CES, Nintendo announced that it would be breaking its partnership with Sony, opting to go withPhilips instead but using the same technology.[91] The deal was broken by Nintendo after they were unable to come to an agreement on how revenue would be split between the two companies.[91] The breaking of the partnership infuriated Sony PresidentNorio Ohga, who responded by appointing Kutaragi with the responsibility of developing the PlayStation project to rival Nintendo.[91]
At that time, negotiations were still on-going between Nintendo and Sony, with Nintendo offering Sony a "non-gaming role" regarding their new partnership with Philips. This proposal was swiftly rejected by Kutaragi who was facing increasing criticism over his work with regard to entering the video game industry from within Sony. Negotiations officially ended in May 1992 and in order to decide the fate of the PlayStation project, a meeting was held in June 1992, consisting of Sony President Ohga, PlayStation Head Kutaragi and several senior members of Sony's board. At the meeting, Kutaragi unveiled a proprietary CD-ROM-based system he had been working on which involved playing video games with 3D graphics to the board. Eventually, Sony President Ohga decided to retain the project after being reminded by Kutaragi of the humiliation he suffered from Nintendo. Nevertheless, due to strong opposition from a majority present at the meeting as well as widespread internal opposition to the project by the older generation of Sony executives, Kutaragi and his team had to be shifted from Sony's headquarters toSony Music, a completely separate financial entity owned by Sony, so as to retain the project and maintain relationships with Philips for the MMCD development project (which helped lead to the creation of theDVD)
Continued research and development
In 2021, theWIPO's annual review of theWorld Intellectual Property Indicators report ranked Sony's as ninth in the world for the number of patent applications published under thePCT System. 1,793 patent applications were published by Sony during 2020.[92] This position is up from their previous ranking as 13th in 2019 with 1,566 applications.[93]
Best known for its electronic products, Sony offers a wide variety of product lines in many areas. At its peak, it was dubbed as a "corporate octopus", for its sprawling ventures from private insurance to chemicals to cosmetics to home shopping to a Tokyo-based French food joint, in addition its core businesses such as electronics and entertainment.[40] Even after it has unwound many business units includingSony Chemicals andVaio PC, Sony still runs diverse businesses.
As of 2020, Sony is organized into the following business segments: Game & Network Services (G&NS), Music, Pictures, Electronics Products & Solutions (EP&S), Imaging & Sensing Solutions (I&SS), Financial Services, and Others.[94] Usually, each business segment has a handful of corresponding intermediate holding companies under which all the related businesses are folded into, such asColumbia Records being part ofSony Music Group, a subsidiary and, at the same time, a holding company for Sony's music businesses, along withSMEJ.
Electronics products & solutions
Sony Corporation (Sony Electronics Corporation until 1 April 2021[95]) is the electronics business unit of the Sony Group. It primarily conducts research and development (R&D), planning, designing, manufacturing and marketing for electronics products. Sony Global Manufacturing & Operations Corporation (SGMO) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation and responsible for managing manufacturing operations both in Japan and overseas, through its own factories as well asthird party contract manufacturers.
In 1979, Sony released the world's first portable music player, theWalkman, bundled with the MDL-3L2headphones. This line fostered a fundamental change in music listening habits by allowing people to carry music with them and listen to music through lightweight headphones.[73][97] Originally used to refer to portable audiocassette players, the Walkman brand has been widely adopted by the company to encompass its portable digital audio and video players as well as a line of formerSony Ericsson mobile phones. In the case of optical disc players, theDiscman brand was used until the late 1990s. In 2025, a model TPS-L2 cassette Walkman from 1979 was included inPirouette: Turning Points in Design, an exhibition at theMuseum of Modern Art featuring "widely recognized design icons [...] highlighting pivotal moments in design history."[96][98][99]
The SonyNW-A3000, the company's flagship digital player in 2005 that attempted to reincarnate Walkman
In 1999 Sony's first portable digital audio players were introduced; one was a player usingMemory Stick flash storage created by the Walkman division, and the other was a smaller pen-sized player with embedded flash storage created by theVaio division; both accompanied with Sony'sOpenMG copyright protection technology and PC software for music transfer.[100][101] Sony continue to develop Walkmandigital audio players, although it was unable to capture the large share and influence in the digital world as it did in the cassette era.
Sony's high-end microphones and headphones for professional use are produced at Sony/Taiyo Corporation, a designated special subsidiary at which 67% of employees have a disability, inŌita Prefecture, Japan.[104]
Sony produced theTV8-301, the world's first all-transistor television, in 1959.[109] In 1968, the company introduced theTrinitron brand name for its lines ofaperture grillecathode-ray tube televisions and afterwardscomputer monitors. Sony stopped production of Trinitron for most markets, but continued producing sets for markets such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and China. Sony discontinued its series of Trinitron computer monitors in 2005. The company discontinued the last Trinitron-based television set in the U.S. in early 2007. The end of Trinitron marked the end of Sony's analog television sets and monitors.
Sony used the LCDWEGA name for itsLCD TVs until summer 2005. The company then introduced theBRAVIA name. BRAVIA is an in-house brand owned by Sony which produces high-definition LCD televisions, projection TVs and front projectors, home cinemas and the BRAVIA home theatre range. All Sony high-definition flat-panel LCD televisions in North America have carried the logo for BRAVIA since 2005. In 2006, Sony lost its decades-long No.1 market share in the global television market. In November 2007, theSony XEL-1, the firstOLED television, was released and manufactured for two years. Later in 2013, Sony demonstrated the first 4K OLED television.[110][111] As of 2012, Sony was the third-largest maker of televisions in the world and the business unit had been unprofitable for eight consecutive years.[112]
The logo ofBravia television. Its backronym is "BestResolutionAudioVisualIntegratedArchitecture".
From 2011, Sony started restructuring of its loss-making television business, mainly by downsizing business units and outsourcing the manufacturing of display panels to the companies likeSharp Corporation,LG Display, andSamsung Electronics.[113] In December 2011, Sony agreed to sell all stake in an LCD joint venture with Samsung Electronics (S-LCD) for about $940 million.[114] On 28 March 2012, Sony and Sharp announced that they have agreed to further amend the joint venture agreement originally executed by the parties in July 2009, as amended in April 2011, for the establishment and operation of Sharp Display Products Corporation ("SDP"), a joint venture to produce and sell large-sized LCD panels and modules.[115] The agreement was eventually terminated as Sony parted ways.[116] Sony'ssmall-sized LCD business subsidiary and medium-to-large-sized OLED display business unit were spun off and became part ofJapan Display andJOLED, respectively.[117]
In 2017, Sony launched OLED televisions under the BRAVIA brand.[118]
Also, Sony has sold a range of tapes, discs, recorders and players forvideocassette,DVD, andBlu-ray formats for decades.
Sony demonstrated a prototype of theSony Mavica in 1981 and released it for the consumer market in 1988. The first Cyber-shot was introduced in 1996. Sony's market share of the digital camera market fell from a high of 20% to 9% by 2005.[119][41]
Sony entered the market fordigital single-lens reflex cameras in 2006 when it acquired the camera business ofKonica Minolta. Sony rebranded the company's line of cameras as itsAlpha line. Sony is the world's third largest manufacturer of the cameras, behindCanon andNikon respectively.
In 2010, Sony introduced their firstmirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras, which were theNEX-3 and theNEX-5. They also started a new lens mount system, which was theE-mount. There were quite a few NEX models out there, when Sony decided to melt the NEX series into the Alpha series. The first Alpha MILC was theα3000, which was introduced in August 2013. It was followed by the Full-Frameα7 andα7R in October, then the successors of theNEX-5, theNEX-6 andNEX-7, theα5000 and theα6000 in 2014. The α6000 became the most popularMILC ever and Sony became the largest MILC manufacturer.
Computing
Four-function electronic desktop calculator (early 1970s)NotebookSony Vaio. Sony axed its loss-making PC business in 2014.
Sony produced computers (SMC-777 [jp] personal computer,MSXhome computers andNEWSworkstations) during the 1980s. The company withdrew from the computer business around 1990. Sony entered again into the global computer market under the newVAIO brand, began in 1996. Short for "Video Audio Integrated Operation", the line was the first computer brand to highlight visual-audio features.[41]
Sony faced considerable controversy when some of its laptop batteries exploded and caught fire in 2006, resulting in the largest computer-related recall to that point in history.[120][121][122]
In a bid to join thetablet computer market, the company launched itsSony Tablet line ofAndroid tablets in 2011. Since 2012, Sony's Android products have been marketed under theXperia brand used for its smartphones.[123]
On 4 February 2014, Sony announced that it would sell its VAIO PC business due to poor sales[124] and Japanese company Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) will purchase the VAIO brand, with the deal finalized by the end of March 2014.[125] As of 2018, Sony maintained a 5% stake in the new, independent company.
Sony has targeted medical, healthcare and biotechnology business as a growth sector in the future. The company acquired iCyt Mission Technology, Inc. (renamed Sony Biotechnology Inc. in 2012), a manufacturer of flow cytometers, in 2010 and Micronics, Inc., a developer of microfluidics-based diagnostic tools, in 2011.
In 2012, Sony announced that it would acquire all shares ofSo-net Entertainment Corporation, the largest shareholder of M3, Inc., an operator of portal sites (m3.com, MR-kun, MDLinx and MEDI:GATE) for healthcare professionals.
On 28 September 2012,Olympus and Sony announced that the two companies will establish a joint venture to develop new surgical endoscopes with4K resolution (or higher) and 3D capability.[131] Sony Olympus Medical Solutions Inc. (Sony 51%, Olympus 49%) was established on 16 April 2013.[132]
On 28 February 2014, Sony, M3 andIllumina established a joint venture called P5, Inc. to provide a genome analysis service for research institutions and enterprises in Japan.[133]
Mobility
Xperia, the product device name for a range of smartphones from Sony
In 2000, Sony was a marginal player in the mobile phone market with a share of less than 1 percent. In 2001, Sony entered into a joint venture with Swedish telecommunications companyEricsson, forming Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications.[134] Initial sales were rocky, and the company posted losses in 2001 and 2002. However, Sony Ericsson reached a profit in 2003. The company distinguished itself with multimedia-capable mobile phones, which included features such as cameras. These were unusual at the time. Despite their innovations, Sony Ericsson faced intense competition fromApple'siPhone, which was released in 2007. From 2008 to 2010, amid a global recession, Sony Ericsson slashed its workforce by several thousand. In 2009, Sony Ericsson was the fourth-largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world (afterNokia,Samsung andLG).[135] By 2010, its market share had fallen to sixth place.[136] Sony acquired Ericsson's share of the venture in 2012 for over US$1 billion.[134]Sony Mobile focuses exclusively on the smartphone market under theXperia brand.
In 2013, Sony contributed to around two percent of the mobile phone market with 37 million mobile phones sold.[137] Sony Mobile's sales reached a peak in 2014 with 40 million handsets, the volume has since decreased. Sony shipped 13.5 million phones in 2017, 6.5 million in 2018, and 2.9 million handsets in FY 2020.[138]
Since the late 1990s, Sony has released numerous consumer robots, including dog-shaped robots calledAIBO, a music playing robot calledRolly, and ahumanoid robot calledQRIO. Despite being a pioneer in the field, Sony had ceased robotics-related operations for 10 years due to financial difficulties, until it decided to revive them in 2016.[139]
In 2015, Sony partnered with an autonomous driving startupZMP INC. to establish an aerial surveillance and reconnaissancedrone manufacturer named Aerosense.[140] At the CES 2021, Sony unveiled adrone with the brand Airpeak, the smallest of its kind that can incorporate aSony Alpha camera according to the company, entering the drone business on its own for the first time.[141]
Sony traces its roots in the semiconductor business back to 1954, when it became the first Japanese company to commercialize thetransistor, invented and licensed byBell Labs, whilst some of the biggest and well-established names in Japan at the time likeToshiba andMitsubishi Electric initially stuck withvacuum tubes they had been thriving on; despite being an expert on the vacuum tube himself, Ibuka saw potential of the novel technology and had Morita negotiate the terms for licensing, making Sony into one of the earliest and the youngest licensees of the transistor, together withTexas Instruments.[144][145][146] In 1957, Sony employeeLeo Esaki and his colleagues invented atunnel diode (usually referred to as Esaki diode) by which they discovered thequantum tunneling effect in solids, for which Esaki received theNobel prize in Physics in 1973.[147] Sony has commanded a dominant share in thecharge-coupled device market.[148]
As of 2020, Sony is the world's largest manufacturer ofCMOS image sensors as its chips are widely used in digital cameras, tablet computers, smartphones, drones and more recently, self-driving systems in automobiles.[149]
As of 2020, the company, through its chip business arm Sony Semiconductor Solutions, designs, manufactures, and sells a wide range ofsemiconductors and electronic components, including image sensors (HAD CCD,Exmor), image processors (BIONZ),laser diodes, system LSIs, mixed-signal LSIs, emergingmemory storage, emerging displays (microLED, microOLED, andholographic display), multi-functionalmicrocomputer (SPRESENSE), etc.[150]
Sony Interactive Entertainment (formerly Sony Computer Entertainment) is best known for producing the popular line ofPlayStation consoles. The line grew out of a failed partnership withNintendo. Originally, Nintendo requested Sony to develop an add-on for itsSuper Nintendo Entertainment System that would play CD-ROMs. In 1991 Sony announcedthe add-on, as well as a dedicated console known as the "Play Station". However, a disagreement over software licensing for the console caused the partnership to fall through. Sony then continued the project independently.
Launched in 1994, thefirst PlayStation gained 61% of global console sales and broke Nintendo's long-standing lead in the market.[152] Sony followed up with thePlayStation 2 in 2000, which was even more successful. The console has become themost successful of all time, selling over 150 million units as of 2011[update]. Sony released thePlayStation 3, a high-definition console, in 2006. It was the first console to use theBlu-ray format, and was considerably more expensive than the competitorsXbox 360 andWii due to theCell processor.[41]
Early on, poor sales performance resulted in significant losses for the company, pushing it to sell the console at aloss.[153] The PlayStation 3 sold generally more poorly than its competitors in the early years of its release but managed to overtake the Xbox 360 in global sales later on.[154] It later introduced thePlayStation Move, an accessory that allows players to control video games using motion gestures.
ThePlayStation 5 is the current-generation video game console by Sony.
Sony extended the brand to the portable games market in 2004 with thePlayStation Portable (PSP). The console has sold reasonably, but has taken a second place to a rival handheld, theNintendo DS. Sony developed theUniversal Media Disc (UMD) optical disc medium for use on the PlayStation Portable. Early on, the format was used for movies, but it has since lost major studio support. Sony released a disc-less version of its PlayStation Portable, thePSP Go, in 2009. The company went on to release its second portable video game system,PlayStation Vita, in 2011 and 2012. Sony launched its fourth console, thePlayStation 4, on 15 November 2013, which as of 31 December 2017 has sold 73.6 million units globally.[155]
On 18 March 2014, atGDC, president ofSCE Worldwide StudiosShuhei Yoshida announced their new virtual reality technology dubbed Project Morpheus, and later namedPlayStation VR, for PlayStation 4. The headset brought VR gaming and non-gaming software to the company's console. According to a report released by Houston-based patent consulting firmLexInnova in May 2015, Sony is leading the virtual reality patent race. According to the firm's analysis of nearly 12,000 patents or patent applications, Sony has 366 virtual reality patents or patent applications.[156] PlayStation VR was released worldwide on 13 October 2016.[157]
On 31 March 2019, the successor to the PlayStation 4 was announced and on 12 November 2020, thePlayStation 5 was released in North America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, and Singapore. The console was launched in Indonesia on 22 January 2021. Upon completion of the fiscal quarter, Sony sold 4.5 million PlayStation 5 consoles, keeping pace with the best-selling console of all time, the PlayStation 2.[158]
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (SPE) is the television and film production/distribution unit of Sony. With 12.5% box office market share in 2011, the company was ranked third among movie studios.[161] Its group sales in 2010 were US$7.2 billion.[162][163] The company has produced many notable movie franchises, includingSpider-Man,The Karate Kid andMen in Black. It has also produced the popular television game showsJeopardy! andWheel of Fortune.
For the first several years of its existence, Sony Pictures Entertainment performed poorly, leading many to suspect the company would sell off the division.[164] In 2006, Sony started usingARccOS Protection on some of their film DVDs, but later issued a recall.[165]
In February 2024, Sony entered into an agreement withDisney under whichSony Pictures Home Entertainment Corporation of Japan will handle the release of Disney products onDVD andBlu-ray on a licensing model, as well as production on physical media. Sony will market, sell and distribute new Disney releases and catalog films on DVD, Blu-ray and4K Ultra DVD through Canadian and American retailers and distributors.[167]
In one of its largest-ever acquisitions, Sony purchasedCBS Record Group in 1988 for US$2 billion.[168] In the process, Sony partnered and gained the rights to the ATV catalogue of Michael Jackson, considered by theGuinness Book of World Records to be the most successful entertainer of all time. The acquisition of CBS Records provided the foundation for the formation of Sony Music Entertainment, which Sony established in 1991.
In 1968, Sony and CBS Records had formed a 50:50 joint-venture CBS/Sony Records, later renamed CBS/Sony Group, in Japan. When CBS Records was acquired, a 50% stake in CBS/Sony Group owned by CBS was also transferred to Sony. In March 1988, four wholly owned subsidiaries were folded into CBS/Sony Group and the company was renamed asSony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ). It operates independently of Sony Music as it is directly owned by Japanese Sony.
In 2004, Sony entered into a joint venture withBertelsmann AG, merging Sony Music Entertainment withBertelsmann Music Group to createSony BMG. In 2005, Sony BMG faced acopy protection scandal, because its music CDs had installedmalware on users' computers that was posing a security risk to affected customers.[169] In 2007, the company acquiredFamous Music for US$370 million, gaining the rights to the catalogues ofEminem andAkon, among others. Sony bought out Bertelsmann's share in Sony BMG and formed a new Sony Music Entertainment in 2008. Since then, the company has undergone management changes.
Sony purchased digital music recognition companyGracenote for US$260 million in 2008.[170]Tribune Media Company acquired Gracenote from Sony in 2014 for $170 million.[171]
In 2012, Sony/ATV acquired a majority stake inEMI Music Publishing, becoming the world's largest music publishing company. In 2018, Sony bought the rest of the shares in the publisher, making it a wholly owned subsidiary.[172][173] Since 2016, Sony owns all of Sony/ATV.[174]
Sony's entering into the Japanese animation, oranime, business happened in 1995 when itsSony Music Entertainment Japan (SMEJ) division establishedAniplex as its subsidiary managing creative productions, which foundedA-1 Pictures, the first anime studio of Sony, ten years later. Since then, through group-wide and international ventures,[175] Sony has solidified its position in the industry, elevating the business to what is called the "fourth pillar of its entertainment portfolio" according toThe Nikkei.[176]
The anime business operations of Sony are scattered around the group, mainly in its Pictures and Music units, as follows: SMEJ's notable related businesses include Aniplex and its subsidiariesCloverWorks and A-1 Pictures; Aniplex and U.S.-headquarteredSony Pictures co-own U.S.-based anime distribution companyCrunchyroll, which since 2022, has become the successor company toFunimation, which it acquired in 2017 and included subsidiaries such asWakanim (absorbing into Crunchyroll itself) and Madman Anime (to be rebranded asCrunchyroll Pty. Ltd.)[177]
In December 2020, Funimation announced that it would buyAT&T's animation businessCrunchyroll for $1.175 billion, which would help the company to compete more globally with entertainment giants such as Netflix.[178] This acquisition was completed in August 2021.[179]
Headquarters of Sony Financial Group inOtemachi, Tokyo, Japan
Sony Financial Group is a holding company for Sony's financial services business which includesSony Life (in Japan and the Philippines), Sony Assurance,Sony Bank, etc. The unit proved to be the most profitable of Sony's businesses in FY 2005, earning $1.7 billion in profit.[40] Sony Financial's low fees have aided the unit's popularity while threatening Sony's premium brand name.[40]
In 2015, Sony invested $842,000 inZMP INC., drawing speculations that it is contemplating developingself-driving cars.[186] In January 2020, Sony unveiled a concept electric car at theConsumer Electronics Show, namedVision-S, designed in collaboration with components manufacturerMagna International.[187] At the occasion, Sony also stated its goal of developing technology for the automotive sector, especially concerning autonomous driving, sensors, andin-car entertainment.[188]
In 2022, Sony Group andHonda launched a joint venture for their electric vehicle partnership,Sony Honda Mobility (SHM), which would deliver its first electric vehicles by 2026 and sell them online, starting in the United States and Japan.[189][190] The joint venture announced their new "Afeela" brand and its first prototype model at theCES 2023.[191]
The key trends for Sony are (as of the financial year ending March 31):[193][194]
Revenue (¥ tr)
Net profit (¥ bn)
Total assets (¥ tr)
Employees (k)
2012
6.4
−456
13.2
162
2013
6.8
43.0
14.2
146
2014
7.7
−128
15.3
140
2015
8.2
−125
15.8
131
2016
8.1
147
16.6
125
2017
7.6
73.2
17.6
128
2018
8.5
490
19.0
117
2019
8.6
916
20.9
114
2020
8.2
582
23.0
111
2021
8.9
1,171
26.3
109
2022
9.9
882
30.4
108
2023
11.5
937
32.0
113
As of January 2024, Sony, one of the largest Japanese companies by market capitalization and operating profit, was valued at over $112 billion. At the same period, it was also recognized as the most cash-rich Japanese company, with itsnet cash reserves of ¥1.8 trillion.[195][196]
The company was immensely profitable throughout the 1990s and early 2000s in part because of the success of its newPlayStation line. The company encountered financial difficulty in the mid- to late-2000s due to several factors: theGreat Recession, increased competition for PlayStation, and the2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The company faced three consecutive years of losses leading up to 2011.[198] While noting the negative effects of intervening circumstances such as natural disasters and fluctuating currency exchange rates, theFinancial Times criticized the company for its "lack of resilience" and "inability to gauge the economy," voicing skepticism about Sony's revitalization efforts, given a lack of tangible results.[198]
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 bubble' years.[199] Net worth, as measured by stockholder equity, has steadily grown from $17.9 billion in March 2002 to $35.6 billion through December 2011.[200] 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 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.[201]
In April 2012, Sony announced that it would reduce its workforce by 10,000 (6% of its employee base) as part of CEOKaz 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.[202][203] Sony planned to increase its marketing expenses by 30% in 2012.[204] 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.[205] Sony had revenues of ¥6.493 trillion in 2012 and maintained large reserves of cash, with ¥895 billion on hand as of 2012. In May 2012, Sony's market capitalization was valued at about $15 billion.[206]
In January 2013, Sony announced it was selling its US headquarters building for $1.1 billion to a consortium led by real estate developer The Chetrit Group.[207]
On 28 January 2014,Moody's Investors Services dropped Sony's credit rating to Ba1—"judged to have speculative elements and a significant credit risk"—saying that the company's "profitability is likely to remain weak and volatile."[208]
On 6 February 2014, Sony announced it would trim as many as 5,000 jobs as it attempts to sell its PC business and focus on mobile and tablets.[209]
In 2014,[210] Sony South Africa closed its TV, Hi-Fi and camera divisions[211] with the purpose of reconsidering its local distribution model and, in 2017, it returned[212][213] facilitated by Premium Brand Distributors (Pty) Ltd.
In November 2018, Sony posted its earning report for the second quarter showing it has lost about US$480 million in the mobile phone division,[214] prompting another round of downsizing in the unit, including the closure of a manufacturing plant and halving of its workforce.[215][216]
Community engagement
EYE SEE project Sony Corporation is actively involved in the EYE SEE project conducted byUNICEF. EYE SEE digital photography workshops have been run for children in Argentina, Tunisia, Mali, South Africa, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Rwanda, Liberia and Pakistan.[217][218]
South Africa Mobile Library Project Sony assists The South Africa Primary Education Support Initiative (SAPESI) through financial donations and children book donations to the South Africa Mobile Library Project.[219]
The Sony Canada Charitable Foundation The Sony Canada Charitable Foundation (SCCF) is a non-profit organization which supports three key charities; the Make-A-Wish Canada, the United Way of Canada and the EarthDay and ECOKIDS program.
Sony Foundation and You Can After the2011 Queensland floods andVictorian bushfires, Sony Music released benefit albums with money raised going to the Sony Foundation.[220] You Can is the youth cancer program of Sony Foundation.[221]
Open Planet Ideas Crowdsourcing Project Sony launched its Open Planet Ideas Crowdsourcing Project, in partnership with theWorld Wildlife Fund and the design group,IDEO.[222]
Street Football Stadium Project On the occasion of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, Sony partnered with streetfootballworld and launched the Street Football Stadium Project to support football-based educational programmes in local communities across Latin America and Brazil.[223] More than 25 Street Stadiums were developed since the project's inception.[224]
The Sony Global Relief Fund for COVID-19 During theCOVID-19 pandemic, Sony launched a relief fund in line with other media and tech companies to aid individuals working in the medical, education, and entertainment sectors.[225]
Criticism & controversies
Over the years, Sony has faced a number of allegations and criticism pertaining to their corporate behavior, often leading to legal proceedings and customer dissatisfaction.
In August 2000, then Sony Pictures Entertainment U.S. senior vice president Steve Heckler was quoted saying "The industry will take whatever steps it needs to protect itself and protect its revenue streams ...".[226] Sony then worked on aDRM system that works like a rootkit in order to enforce its copyright claims upon users of music CDs.
With respect to Sony's gaming consoles, subsequent updates are released to the said consoles, many of which strip the user of some of the originally advertised features in order to save the company some licensing fees or protect itself from the modding community. On April 1, 2010, Sony released a patch for thePS3 that would removeOtherOS from being installed onto the system after hackers were looking for ways to exploit OtherOS in order to runhomebrew software. Then on January 12, 2011, Sony filled lawsuits againstgeohot andfail0verflow for their efforts on exploiting the PS3.[227][228]In December 2023, Sony announced that it will remove the Discovery app and its content, even if previously paid for, from its gaming consoles.[229]
Environmental record
In November 2011, Sony was ranked ninth (jointly with Panasonic) inGreenpeace's Guide to Greener Electronics.[230] This chart grades major electronics companies on their environmental work. The company scored 3.6/10, incurring a penalty point for comments it has made in opposition to energy efficiency standards in California. It also risks a further penalty point in future editions for being a member of trade associations that have commented against energy efficiency standards.[231] Together withPhilips, Sony receives the highest score for energy policy advocacy after calling on the EU to adopt an unconditional 30% reduction target for greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Meanwhile, it receives full marks for the efficiency of its products.[231] In June 2007, Sony ranked 14th on theGreenpeace guide.[232] Sony fell from its earlier 11th-place ranking due to Greenpeace's claims that Sony had double standards in their waste policies.[233]
As of May 2018[update] Greenpeace's 2017 Guide to Greener Electronics rated Sony approximately in the middle among electronics manufacturers with a grade of D+.[234]
Since 1976, Sony has had an Environmental Conference.[235] Sony's policies address their effects on global warming, the environment, and resources. They are taking steps to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases that they put out as well as regulating the products they get from their suppliers in a process that they call "green procurement".[236] Sony has said that they have signed on to have about 75 percent of theirSony Building running ongeothermal power. The "Sony Take Back Recycling Program" allow consumers to recycle the electronics products that they buy from Sony by taking them toeCycle (Recycling) drop-off points around the U.S. The company has also developed a biobattery that runs on sugars and carbohydrates that works similarly to the way living creatures work. This is the most powerful smallbiobattery to date.[237]
In 2000, Sony faced criticism for a document entitled "NGO Strategy" that was leaked to the press. The document involved the company's surveillance of environmental activists in an attempt to plan how to counter their movements. It specifically mentioned environmental groups that were trying to pass laws that held electronics-producing companies responsible for the cleanup of the toxic chemicals contained in their merchandise.[238]
Cartel
In 2007 an investigation launched in 2002 by theEuropean Commission culminated in Sony,Fuji andMaxell receiving a total of 110 million US dollar fine for fixing professional videotape prices between 1999 and 2002 through regular meetings and other illegal contracts; at the time the three corporations shared a combined 85% control of the market. Sony's part of the fine was raised by a third for trying to obstruct the investigation by refusing to answer inquiries made by the EU officials and shredding of evidence during the multiple law-enforcement raids.[239][240] During the year 2001 prior to the investigation Sony sold professional videotapes for a total of €115 million inside the EU.
^Since April 2021, the "Sony Corporation" legal name is used for Sony Group's electronics business that was previously known as "Sony Electronics Corporation".
^Japanese:東京通信工業株式会社,Hepburn:Tōkyō Tsūshin Kōgyō Kabushiki Kaisha; Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation
^Made in Japan – Akio Morita and Sony (pg. 76) by Akio Morita with [müzik indir]müzik indirArchived 17 January 2021 at theWayback Machine Edwin M. Rheingold and Mitsuko Shimomura, Signet Books, 1986
^abcdefChristian, Caryl, and With Hideko Takayama and Kay Itoi in Tokyo, George Wehrfritz in Hong Kong, John Sparks and Michael Hastings in, New York. "Sony is Not Japan; the Appointment of a Foreign CEO is a Sign of how Far the Iconic Company has Fallen in the Japanese Corporate Elite." Newsweek 21 March 2005: 30-. ProQuest Research Library. Web. 26 May 2012.
^Immerwahr, Daniel (2019).How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States (First ed.). New York: Straus, and Giroux Farrar.ISBN978-0-374-71512-0.OCLC1086608761.Deming's beatification spoke to the centrality of the U.S. military in Japan's economic growth. The more that military fought, the more Japanese firms profited. The Korean War had been a godsend. The Vietnam War helped, too. The men who fought it drank Kirin beer, carried Nikon cameras, rode Honda motorbikes, and dropped bombs with Sony parts.
^abcdLohr, Steve. "Hard-Hit Sony Girds for a Fight in the American Electronics Market." New York Times: A.8. New York Times. 14 August 1983. Web. 26 May 2012.
^abcdefghFackler, Martin. "Cutting Sony, a Corporate Octopus, Back to a Rational Size." New York Times: C.1. New York Times. 29 May 2006. Web. 27 May 2012.
^abcdNakamoto, Michiyo. "Screen Test: Stringers Strategy Will Signal to what Extent Sony can Stay in the Game CONSUMER ELECTRONICS: The Japanese Company that Once Brought the World Market-Defining Products is being Trounced by More Agile Competitors and must Decide which Activities no Longer Form Part of its Future, Writes Michiyo Nakamoto." Financial Times: 17. ABI/INFORM Global. 21 September 2005. Web. 27 May 2012.
^DeMaria, Rusel; Wilson, Johnny L. (2003).High Score!: The Illustrated History of Electronic Games (2 ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Osborne. p. 376.ISBN0-07-223172-6.
^Officially, Sony Mobile Communications Inc. absorbed Sony Electronics Corporation, Sony Imaging Products & Solutions Inc., and Sony Home Entertainment & Sound Products Inc. and changed its trade name to Sony Corporation.
^"Topic: Sony".www.statista.com.Archived from the original on 2021-01-14. Retrieved2016-03-23.
^"Form 20-F (FY2020)"(PDF).Investor Relations. Tokyo: Sony Group Corporation. p. 37.Archived(PDF) from the original on 2021-06-25. Retrieved2021-11-04.
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