Sony Corporation

Structure

On April 1, 2019, Sony underwent a restructuring, in which the company merged into one division for the production of digital cameras, projectors, TVs, speakers, smartphones and tablets. The new structure was called Electronics Products & Solutions, and Shigeki Ishizuka was appointed its head.

As a result of the restructuring, the activities of the Japanese consumer electronics manufacturer were divided into the following divisions:

• Electronics Products & Solutions (digital cameras, projectors, televisions, speakers, DVD players, mobile devices);
• Game & Network Services (game consoles and services);
• Semiconductors (image sensors and other semiconductors);
• Pictures ( making films and television programs);
• Music (selling music content);
• Financial Services.

Performance indicators

Main article: Sony financials

The fiscal year ends on March 31.

2021: Revenue from the sale of games - $18.2 billion

The largest public companies by revenue from the sale of games in 2021

2020

Revenue growth by 9%, to 8.5 trillion yen, profit - 2 times (to 1.19 trillion yen)

At the end of fiscal 2020, Sony registered revenue of 8.5 trillion yen (about $84 billion at the weighted average exchange rate for this 12-month period), which is 9% more than a year earlier.

The main catalyst for the financial recovery of the Japanese corporation was the gaming business, the volume of which grew by 34% over the year and reached 2.65 trillion yen. The electronics division registered a 7 percent rise in turnover - up to 2.07 trillion yen. Sony has noted a drop in sales of digital cameras, as well as professional audio and video equipment.

Most of the annual revenue (2.96 trillion yen) came from Japan. The second place in terms of Sony turnover was taken by the United States (2.15 trillion yen).

Sony's 2020 revenue up 9%

The revenue of the Imaging & Sensing Solutions division, which is responsible for the release of image sensors used in smartphones, cameras and other equipment, amounted to 1.01 trillion yen in 2020, which is 7% less than a year ago.

In the direction of financial services, Sony's annual revenues increased by 28%, reaching 1.67 trillion yen, which was largely facilitated by the inflow of money from investment projects.

Sony's net profit at the end of the 12-month reporting period, closed at the end of March 2021 calendar year, more than doubled relative to profit a year ago and amounted to 1.19 trillion yen.

Profit in the gaming division rose from 238.4 billion to 342.2 billion yen, while in the Electronics Products & Solutions Segment division it shrank from 139.2 billion yen to 134.1 billion yen.

In 2020, Sony sold 5.7 million and 7.8 million PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 game consoles, respectively. Demand for the first has more than halved largely due to the upcoming release of the second. The annual sale of Sony TVs remained practically unchanged at 9.3 million units, but smartphone sales fell from 3.2 million units in 2019 to 2.9 million units a year later.^[1]

CMOS Image Sensor Market Share - 48.6%

Sony's share of the CMOS image sensor market was 48.6% (Omdia data). Read more here.

Business in Russia

2023: Sony head change in Russia

At the end of March 2023, it is known about the change of the head of the Russian representative office. It was a citizen of the Russian Federation Maxim Vikramasekera. Read more here.

2022: Lawsuit for 280 million rubles due to work stoppage in Russia

Sony was sued for 280 million rubles due to a work stoppage in Russia, which became known at the end of May 2022. In such an amount, as Vedomosti writes with reference to the Khoroshevsky District Court of Tikhanovskaya, 28 unnamed plaintiffs assessed the moral damage from the termination of the PlayStation Store service in the Russian Federation.

The interests of the plaintiffs in court are represented by the lawyer of "SSP-consult" Stanislav Isakov, who commented that "neither the terms of use of Sony programs, nor the legislation of the Russian Federation provides for a refusal to provide the service" in connection with the internal and foreign policy of the state of location and residence of users "." He also notes that the company's unilateral refusal to provide services contradicts its rules and grossly violates user rights.

Sony filed a lawsuit for 280 million rubles due to work stoppage in Russia

Claim for compensation for moral damage in the amount of 10 million rubles. for each plaintiff, they explain, among other things, the high cost of the game console (from 119 thousand rubles for Sony PlayStation 5), write Vedomosti.

Lawyer Stanislav Danilov says that the Sony case is interesting for the conflict that arises between the norms of the consumer protection law and the terms of the agreement to which Sony PlayStation users join.

If Sony successfully defends itself and says that the termination of service to the Russian market is due to some extraordinary circumstances, despite the fact that software updates and other charms of using PS are not a service in the true sense of consumer protection law, I think that the court should side with Sony, the lawyer suggested.

On March 10, 2022, Sony, due to Russia's military special operation in Ukraine, decided to suspend its activities in the country. The restrictions affected the import of PlayStation consoles and the operation of the PS Store, where you can buy and update games for consoles.^[2]

2019: Revenue decline by 24% to RUB 31.49 bn

At the end of 2019, Sony took 11th place in the TAdviser Ranking: the 50 most profitable representative offices of foreign IT companies in Russia. Sony's indicator for Russia includes the revenue of legal entities of Soni Electronics JSC and Sony Mobile Kommyunications Rus LLC. The company's revenue for 2019 amounted to 31,498,903 thousand rubles, which is 24% lower than in 2018.

2018: Revenue - 41.77 billion rubles.

Sony's revenue in Russia (Soni Electronics JSC and Sony Mobile Kommyunications Rus LLC) for 2018 amounted to 41,774,968 thousand rubles.

2016: Localization of storage production in Russia

At the end of August 2016, it became known about the launch by Sony of the production of compact flash drives in Russia. The Japanese vendor will be able to label its products with the inscription "Made in Russia," which will attract state customers.

According to Kommersant, citing Kentaro Ikeda, head of the information storage and peripheral equipment department at Sony Electronics in Russia and the CIS, the company began producing microSD memory cards and several models of USB devices with a capacity of 8 to 64 GB in St. Petersburg.

Sony localized the production of flash drives in Russia

In the future, it is planned to expand the line of devices that will be produced in the Russian Federation. According to a Sony representative, goods produced in St. Petersburg will appear in stores in September 2016, these products will be sold in EurAsEC countries - Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus and Armenia.

The production is carried out by a Sony partner at a plant with "high-tech equipment." Sony did not name this partner and the expected product release volumes.

This will depend on demand and seasonality, but we will ensure that all partner requests are met, "explained Kentaro Ikeda.

He also noted that by the end of August 2016, Sony ranks first in terms of memory card sales in Russia, and the company plans to "strengthen this trend."

According to GfK analysts, in the first half of 2016, 4 million USB drives were sold in Russia, which is 8.6% less than a year earlier. In monetary terms, the market volume decreased by 4%, to 2.6 billion rubles.

Jabil Russia Business Development General Director Sergei Zorin believes that the point of Sony's project to localize flash drive production may be to attract customers who need products labeled "Made in Russia." These include government agencies and state-owned companies, which is half of the domestic corporate market, Zorin said.

History

2024: Sony terminates $10 billion merger with Indian media group Zee due to assets in Russia

On February 1, 2024, it became known that the Japanese corporation Sony broke a $10 billion deal with Indian Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEEL) due to assets in Russia. Despite lengthy negotiations, the parties were unable to resolve the differences that arose. Read more here.

2022

Toshiba, Sony and Samsung will pay tens of millions for cartel collusion in the sale of disk drives

On June 16, 2022, it became known that Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology, Sony, Sony Optiarc and Quanta Storage lost a lawsuit with the EU and must pay fines totaling €116 million ($120.5 million). Read more here.

Investing $1 billion in Epic Games

On April 11, 2022, Epic Games announced that it had raised $2 billion in investments. According to the results of the funding round, in which Sony and the investment company Kirkbi participated (invested $1 billion each), the game developer was valued at $32 billion. Read more here.

Purchase of Haven Studios game studio

In mid-March 2022, Sony acquired Haven Studios. The financial component of the transaction of the company did not disclose. Read more here.

Sony and Honda have created a company to jointly develop electric vehicles

On March 4, 2022, Japanese Sony and Honda announced the creation of a company for the joint development of electric vehicles. The launch of its first electric car as part of the Sony Honda Mobility project is scheduled for 2025. Read more here.

Buying game publisher Bungie

On January 31, 2022, Sony announced the purchase of Bungie, known for creating Destiny and Halo games. The transaction value is $3.6 billion. Bungie will continue to independently publish and creatively develop its games, publisher CEO Pete Parsons said. Read more here.

2021

The number of PlayStation consoles sold in all years

The number of consoles sold for all years as of December 31, 2021. The statistics do not include data sales of re-released analogues of classic models

Start of construction of a chip factory

On November 9, 2021, TSMC and Sony announced the construction of a chip factory in Kumamoto, Japan. This plant will manufacture microcircuits based on the 22/28nm process. Read more here.

Sale of GSN Games gaming studio for $1 billion

In mid-October 2021, Sony announced the sale of GSN Games gaming studio to Scopely, a mobile game development company, in a deal worth $1 billion. GSN Games CEO Mark Feldman will continue to oversee the studio under the patronage of Scopely. The deal, which is a combination of 50% on 50% of Scopely's finances and shares, would make Sony Pictures, a minority shareholder in the gaming company. Read more here.

Purchase of game developer Bluepoint Games

On September 30, 2021, Sony announced the purchase of Bluepoint Games and attributed the deal to a desire to release games for its best-selling consoles and maintain its advantage over the rival Xbox console. Sony did not disclose the financial terms of the deal to acquire the Texas studio. Read more here.

Purchase of game developer for virtual reality projects Firesprite

In mid-September 2021, Sony announced the acquisition of UK studio Firesprite, game developer The Playroom and The Playroom VR. Read more here.

Purchase of anime manufacturer Crunchyroll from AT&T for $1.175 billion

In early August 2021, Sony officially owned AT&T's Crunchyroll. The company plans to use the Crunchyroll service to expand its already significant presence in the anime streaming market. Read more here.

Purchase of game studio Nixxes Software

At the end of June 2021, Sony announced the purchase of the Dutch gaming studio Nixxes Software, which ports console games to different platforms. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Read more here.

Investing in video game developer Epic Games

In mid-2021, video game developer Epic Games announced a $1 billion investment, raising the company's valuation to $28.7 billion. Sony invested in Epic Games. Read more here.

2020

Closure of the only Blu-ray disc factory in the Russian Federation

On July 17, 2020, it became known about the closure of the only Sony factories in Russia and one of several in the world for the production of Blu-ray discs with films and games. Now these products will be imported into the Russian Federation.

The termination of the Sony enterprise in Borovsk, Kaluga Region, was reported by Kommersant with reference to the general director of PlayStation (owned by Sony) in Russia, Sergei Klisho. According to him, the company was only one of the publishers who produced discs at the factory in Borovsk.

In recent years, sales of digital copies of games have grown significantly, which affected the volume of the physical copy market. This is a natural process and the choice of most consumers, "he said, commenting on the closure of the plant.

Sony closed the only Blu-ray disc factory in Russia

Klisho added that Blu-ray discs with films and games for the PlayStation will still be sold on the Russian market, but will be supplied from the Austrian factory, which serves most markets. Europe

According to Marvel Distribution analyst Anton Fomin, the closure of the plant will probably not affect the delivery dates and prices of games on discs in Russia. The parties are preparing to be shipped at least four months before the start of sales, their volume is easily planned, since it depends on the pre-orders of retailers, he notes.

The purchase of Blu-ray has turned into entertainment for collectors, and there is no new technique for reproducing this disc format, "said Alexander Nechaev, editor-in-chief of the Film Distributor's Bulletin. - It is not interesting for Sony to serve such a small audience, because Blu-ray sales do not even meet minimum expectations.

With the arrival of online cinemas that provide films and TV shows in excellent quality, Blu-ray has lost its meaning, says CD Land President Yuri Zeitlin, who also connects the closure of the plant with the lack of demand.^[3]

Sony brings its stake in Sony Financial to 100%

On May 19, 2020, Sony announced its intention to make Sony Financial its wholly owned subsidiary. To do this, the corporation announced a tender to buy out a 35 percent stake in a company that does not belong to it for $3.7 billion. Read more here.

2019

Collusion in HP Drive Sales

In early January 2020, HP Inc. sued $439 million from Taiwanese drive supplier Quanta Storage for conspiring with Samsung, Sony and Panasonic to inflate prices. The US court ruled to make up for the losses that HP suffered as a result of these frauds in triple amounts. Read more here.

Liquidation of Mobile Communications division and transfer of mobile business to Electronics Products & Solutions

Japanese company Sony announced a large-scale reorganization in March 2019, during which it will close its mobile division Mobile Communications (MC), which manufactures smartphones. In recent years, it has brought the company only losses, which is due to its^[4] of^[5]. Read more here.

European HQ move to Holland over Brexit

On January 23, 2019, Sony announced the transfer of its European headquarters from Britain to Holland. The company is doing this to avoid the adverse consequences of Britain's expected exit from the European Union. At the same time, the Japanese electronics manufacturer promises to work in the British market, as before.

We are changing the registration address of the European headquarters to the Netherlands, "Sony spokesman Takashi Iida told Irish broadcaster RTÉ.

Sony moves European HQ to Holland over Brexit

According to him, the resettlement, which should be completed by the end of March 2019, is being carried out in order to avoid difficult customs procedures after Britain leaves the EU.

The Japanese giant registered a new company in Holland in late 2018 and plans to integrate its existing European headquarters in Britain into the company.

The move would make Sony an "EU-based company," so Sony's European operations would be subject to bloc-wide customs procedures after Britain renounced eurozone membership, Iida said.

Some Japanese manufacturers have also moved or plan to move headquarters from Britain due to Brexit. Panasonic Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Среди них — , Nomura Holdings, Daiwa Securities, и Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group. The country's authorities promise to reduce corporate tax (by the beginning of 2019 it is 20%) in order to keep international corporations in Britain after the country leaves the EU.^[6]

Japanese companies have asked the British government Japan for mitigating measures in connection with Brexi and hope that Britain and the European Union will have "as close an economic relationship as possible" after Brexit, the Keidanren Federation of Economic Organizations says. At the same time, voices are louder in Britain in support of postponing the date of the "divorce" from the EU or even holding a second referendum.

2018

Sony buys EMI to become biggest music label

On May 22, 2018, Sony announced the purchase of a controlling stake in EMI Music Publishing, making the Japanese corporation the world's largest music publisher. Read more here.

Company structure

As of the end of April 2018, Sony's business structure includes the following core divisions:

• Mobile Communications (smartphones and tablets);
• Game & Network Services (game consoles and services);
• Imaging Products & Solutions;
• Home Entertainment & Sound (TVs, DVD players, speakers and other entertainment electronics);
• Devices (image sensors and other semiconductors);
• Pictures ( making films and television programs);
• Music (selling music content);
• Financial Services.

Development of AI solutions for taxi services

In February 2018, Sony announced the creation of a company that will develop robotaxis. The Japanese giant's partners in this project were six Japanese companies offering passenger transportation services: Green Cab, International Automobile, Kusumi Transportation, Daiwa Motor Transportation, Checker Cab Radio Cooperative Association and Hinomaru Transportation.

The joint venture they created will develop and maintain applications for dispatch services that will use Sony's artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, which will analyze and predict the demand for taxi services at a certain time and place.

Sony to launch new AI taxi service in Japan

According to Sony, six companies with which the corporation has begun cooperation have more than 10 thousand cars in their fleet in Tokyo and   outside the capital, and thanks to  the introduction of AI, customer service will be improved by optimizing the fleet. It is assumed that the number of taxi cars can be increased during peak hours and reduced at normal times.

Sony's intelligent platform will take into account the traffic congestion online, the travel history of each car that went on the route, and weather conditions. Also, the software complex will begin to calculate passenger traffic and the need for taxis in crowded places - areas where concerts and sports matches are held. In the future, these developments will be used in the development of unmanned taxis.

In February 2018 ,  Toyota began working on a similar system. The company invested about $70 million in the development of its JapanTaxi service.

By February 2018, Uber's service is down in Japan due to local laws prohibiting passengers from being transported without permits. Meanwhile, Uber is already negotiating a joint venture with taxi company Daiichi Koutsu Sangyo and expects to connect local drivers to its service, Nikkei reports.^[7]

Kenichiro Yoshida is the new head of Sony

On February 2, 2018, Sony announced that the next chief executive of the corporation will be 58-year-old Kenichiro Yoshida, who holds the positions of financial head and executive vice president of the company.

The appointment will come into force on April 1, 2018. Kenichiro Yoshida will replace the current chief executive of Sony Kazuo Hirai, who will move to the post of chairman of the company's board of directors. Read more here.

2017: Return to the robotics market after a 12-year hiatus

In October 2017, it became known about Sony's plans to return to the robotics market. The Japanese corporation is re-assembling a team working on the previously popular robot dog Aibo to focus on the development of home automated assistants.

Aibo project will get a second life with Sony's return to the robotics market

In the spring of 2018, Sony plans to resume development in the field of robotics and release a home robot dog 12 years after the closure of this direction.

According to Nikkei, Sony is again assembling a team of specialists who previously worked on the Aibo robotic dog.^[8]

In 2017, Sony completed a restructuring and focused on developing innovative products. Using its experience in the technology industry, the company expects to compete with large American IT companies that used to come to Sony in the segment of developing devices with artificial intelligence.

Initially, Sony's strategy implied attention to the industrial robot segment, but subsequently the plans had to be changed, and it was decided to concentrate on the home robot sector, which is still at the inception stage.

Sony's first attempt to conquer the market will be a wannabe live robotic dog, which, among other things, will also have voice control functions for home devices. Similar devices with artificial intelligence and Internet connection are already being released, for example, by Amazon.com and Google, but the Sony robot, unlike its counterparts, will look and, to some extent, behave like a living dog.

The Japanese vendor plans to "open" an operating system developed for such devices for third-party developers, which will constantly expand the functions of the devices. In addition, technologies are being developed that in the future will allow imitating the behavior of a real dog.

2016: Battery business sale and 7% staff reduction

On November 1, 2016, Sony Corporation announced the sale of the battery business and the massive job cuts associated with this deal. The Japanese electronics manufacturer will reduce its headcount by almost 7%.

Sony's Energy Devices division, which produces lithium-ion batteries for mobile devices, cameras and other equipment, will be sold to Murata Manufacturing, which specializes in making electronic components. The transaction will cost 17.5 billion yen ($166.7 million).

Sony says goodbye to battery business and cuts 7% of state

Under the terms of the agreement, Sony will give Murata most of the battery-related assets, including factories in China and Singapore, research centers and staff (8500 employees). As of March 2016, Sony had a staff of 125,300. The deal is scheduled to close by the end of March 2017, and must first be approved by regulators.

At the same time, Sony will retain consumer sales of proprietary external USB batteries, alkaline batteries, mobile projectors and finger batteries.

As a result of the sale of the battery business, Sony was forced to write off 33 billion yen ($314 million) in July-September 2016, which is why the corporation's profit for this period decreased by 86%, to 45.7 billion yen ($436 million). As a result, the company revised its revenue forecast downward: at the end of the fiscal year, which will end in March 2017, the vendor expects operating profit of $2.6 billion, which is $300 million less than previously predicted.

According to Reuters, the sale of the cell business was part of a restructuring in which Sony is shifting its business focus towards video games, entertainment and image sensors. In turn, Murata, through this acquisition, hopes to expand its presence in the automotive, healthcare and energy solutions markets.^[9]

2011

Hacker attacks on gaming services

Sony Corporation and Sony Computer Entertainment announced in April 2011 that an investigation into illegal entry into Sony Online Entertainment LLC (SOE) systems revealed that a hacker attack on April 16 and 17, 2011 may have stolen customers' personal data. During the audit, the company's security engineers and consultants found that the personal data of 24.6 million SOE customers, as well as part of the information from the outdated 2007 database, could have been stolen. In particular, information about the numbers and terms of validity of about 12,700 debit and credit cards of customers living outside the United States, as well as information about about 10,700 transactions on cards of customers from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain. Personal credit card security code data has not been compromised.

As a result of a massive attack on Sony servers, the Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) service was disabled, which, following the PlayStation Network and Qriocity, became the third gaming service to suffer from an attack by attackers. The company states that fraudsters have gained access to 23,400 credit and debit cards of users living outside the United States. According to experts, this leak became the largest in history, since the total number of victims using the services of Sony gaming portals could exceed 100 million.

According to unofficial sources, offers to sell 2.2 million credit card numbers have appeared on several underground hacker forums. The first victim of hackers has already appeared in Australia - one of the users claims that more than 2 thousand dollars were stolen from his card.

According to financial analysts, the damage from this incident can be measured in the hundreds of billions of dollars, and, importantly, the prestige of Sony, which is trying its hand at the tablet and smartphone markets and which will begin selling the new NGP portable game console in a few months. Meanwhile, Sony said it would subsequently provide a free SOE service for 30 days in compensation.

A resident of Canada filed a lawsuit against Sony, demanding a billion Canadian dollars (one billion 40 million US dollars) to reimburse her. This was reported by representatives of the law firm of the plaintiff. The lawsuit was filed by Toronto-based McPhadden Samac Tuovi LLP, which represents 21-year-old Ontario resident Natasha Maksimovich. She claims that as a long-term user of the PlayStation Network service, she was struck by Sony's security weakness, which led to a massive leak of confidential data of network users. Natasha wants to invest the money she expects to receive from Sony to pay for monitoring the accounts of victims of PSN users to prevent fraud with them for two years. The lawsuit does not specify whether this money will go to pay for monitoring the accounts of all affected users or only those living in Canada. This lawsuit is already the second in the history of data leakage when hacking the PSN service. Earlier on April 26, 2011, Christopher Jones filed a lawsuit in the California District Court, accusing Sony of insufficient measures taken to protect the personal data of PlayStation Network users. The refund amount was not specified.

Biggest losses in history

On April 10, 2012, Sony reported its largest ever net annual loss in fiscal year 2011, which ended on March 31. Sony's net loss was $6.4 billion (520 billion Japanese yen)^[10]

According to experts, Sony, which recently announced its plans to reduce more than 10 thousand employees around the world (or about 6% of its staff), faced such significant losses due to weak demand for TVs in the past fiscal year, as well as aggressive competition from other manufacturers of electronic equipment, primarily Apple and Samsung Electronics.

However, Sony management is optimistic about the future and predicts that in the next fiscal year 2012, which will end for the company at the end of March 2013, it will be able to achieve operating profit of 180 billion yen or $2.2 billion.

According to Reuters, after reporting a record loss, Sony shares on the stock exchange in Germany fell by almost 10%. On the stock exchange in Japan, the fall in securities of the Japanese giant amounted to 3.5%.

Kazuo Hirai is the new head of the company

According to Kazuo Hirai, who took over as chief executive of Sony in March 2012, he is ready for "tough steps" as part of a strategy to restore the profitability of Sony's business. So, he noted that he is ready not to hesitate to curtail some of the low-profit businesses of the Japanese giant or leave those industries where Sony is difficult to compete with other companies.

Kazuo Hirai, known for his decisive leadership in Sony's gaming division, which allowed the company to significantly cut costs, promised that he would restore the company's TV business in two years. Over the past 10 years, Sony's TV division alone has caused more than $10 billion in losses for the corporation.

2008: 180K employees

As of March 2008, the total number of employees of the company worldwide is about 180,000 people.

The company's activities at this time include:

• Consumer and professional electronics (including: audio, video and television equipment, information and telecommunications products, semiconductors and components)
• Entertainment, including motion pictures, television and music programs, game consoles and computer games
• Financial and investment activities (including various types of insurance, banking services, leasing activities, lending)
• Implementation of Internet projects

1979: World's first portable player

On July 1, 1979, the world's first portable audio player, called the Walkman, was introduced. The name was erroneous and quite accidentally serial models received this brand. But it seemed memorable to users and the re-launch with the correct English name did not cancel the fact that customers demanded the walkman in stores, and the management had to leave the players with the original name.

1963

A woman watches a new SONY portable TV (Model TV5-303) in the back seat of a car, Tokyo, Japan, 1963.

1946: Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita found the company

The company was founded on May 7, 1946, with Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita as its founders and initially the only employees.

Electric rice cooker. The very first Sony product, 1945 (?).

Notes