Confirmed, Kaz makes necessary big moves: Sony sells PC business, makes TV arm its own subsidiary

[satam55]

This thread is a continuation of this thread from a day or 2 ago: http://www.thecoli.com/threads/sony-is-reportedly-in-talks-to-sell-its-pc-business.187889/

Sony sells its VAIO PC business, makes TV arm its own subsidiary

BY MAT SMITH FEBRUARY 6TH, 2014 AT 1:02AM ET

Sony said it was "addressing various options" as recently as yesterday when it came to its VAIO PC and laptop arm, and while announcing its financial results for Q3 2013, it's apparently come to a decision. Amid reforming its TV arm (and splitting it into a standalone entity by June 2014), it's going to sell its PC business and VAIO brand to Japan Industrial Partners (JIP), with the final deal set to be done by the end of March 2014. The company has reported a drop in demand for its PCs in prior financial statements, and (barring the VAIO Flip 11A), Sony didn't really have much to show from its VAIO range at this year's CES.

The company says it's no longer designing and developing PC products, while manufacturing and sales will wrap up after the company's final VAIO range goes on sale globally. It has decided to focus on those post-PC products (yep, smartphones and tablets), meaning that it had to make some big decisions with less successful parts of the business. During Q3 2013, Sony saw year-on-year sales increases from its mobile arm, but still forecasts an annual loss of around $1.1 billion (110 billion yen) for the full year: it had previously projected a 30 billion yen profit. The blame is leveled at the businesses its now looking to change. Other highlights include the PS4, which sold 4.2 million units and 9.7 million games in its first six weeks. The games arm also saw a "dramatic increase" in PlayStation Plus subscriptions -- something that's mandatory for multiplayer on the company's new console.

Sony will cut a total of 5,000 jobs worldwide (1,500 in Japan) by the end of the 2014 fiscal year, while the new PC company has stated that it will hire around 250 to 300 Sony employees, encompassing design, development manufacturing and sales, and will be based in Nagano -- where Sony's current VAIO HQ resides. The company is promising to fulfill all its aftercare warranties. Sony is signed up to invest 5 percent of the new company's capital to support its launch and smooth over the transition. Restructuring costs across both the TV and PC segments are now set to cost an extra 20 billion yen. Sony is now set to focus on its high-end sets and 4K screens, and hopes that changes will ensure the TV business returns to profitability within the next financial year.

Source: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/201402/14-019E/index.html
Source 2: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/fr/viewer/13q3/

http://www.engadget.com/2014/02/06/sony-sells-vaio/

This should make investors happy. @Rekkapryde

 

[ChrisDorner]

Sony boutta collapse y'all

/Xbot

 

[Rekkapryde]

Smart. The TV biz is a black hole for them. I understand they still wanna sell high end TVs, but to many Sammys are high end too. Playstation Now would be a good thing to implement in their TVs going forward as well as trying to add/implement more high end shyt to their TVs to differentiate them from Samsung.

Their mobile business, Columbia pics (esp with Spidey 2 this year), Playstation biz, and network television shyt is fine.

 

[Liquid]

The PC market is changing drastically and companies don't want to compete with Microsoft as they are making their own hardware. Smart move

It will be interesting to see how the TV business does. Sony IMO needs to trim down the tv business because there is no point in having so many damn TV models out there. Just make 1 high end TV at different sizes and keep it moving. Integrated PlayStation Now on to all the models

 

[PS5 Pro]

Is this really thread worthy?
So sony sells off something nobody gave 2 shyts about. Not two shyts
And they still riding with Sony TV's

So basically they throwing in the towel on one venture, and will struggle out the other

All this is really saying is sony is not in a position to
They are cutting the fat right now, the writing is on the wall

When 2015 hits, and Xbots will be so full from Titanfall, Halo 5, Sunset Overdrive, games like that?
I see sony getting turned down AGAIN by nintendo.
Same nikkaz you pass on the way up, you see again on the way down

 

[satam55]

Is this really thread worthy?
So sony sells off something nobody gave 2 shyts about. Not two shyts
And they still riding with Sony TV's

So basically they throwing in the towel on one venture, and will struggle out the other

All this is really saying is sony is not in a position to
They are cutting the fat right now, the writing is on the wall

When 2015 hits, and Xbots will be so full from Titanfall, Halo 5, Sunset Overdrive, games like that?
I see sony getting turned down AGAIN by nintendo.
Same nikkaz you pass on the way up, you see again on the way down

 

[Jone2three45]

Vaios used to be dope back in the day.

 

[STAN JONES]

Just prolonging the inevitable

 

[satam55]

Just prolonging the inevitable

Film/TV, Music, Digital Imaging/Cameras, Gaming, Smartphones/Tablet, Finance, & Insurance - all profitable for Sony..They done finally cut off the money-bleeding divisions. They gonna be fine.

 

[Lord Scion]

The games division saw a 64.6 percent boost in sales over last year, thanks to the PlayStation 4's strong launch and a weakened yen. Sony's mobile products and communications division, which included PCs until now, saw revenue increase 44.8 percent year-on-year powered by a "significant increase in unit sales of smartphones." The home entertainment and sound division saw a 24.8 percent lift in revenue on improved LCD TV sales; Sony is now splitting off its TV business as a subsidiary and will concentrate on high-end and 4K models.

Good numbers, shame that VAIO pretty much threw their chances of a profit into the bushes though. I know Kaz really wanted to keep VAIO and TV how they were but sacrifices had to be made for the better of Sony. So finally the money bleeding divisions are gone, so now next investor meeting they hopefully can post good numbers.

I wonder though, if Steve Jobs had his way in 2001 and VAIOs ran OSX how different things would be? Probably not too different, even Macs aren't selling like that.

 

[spliz]

Is this really thread worthy?
So sony sells off something nobody gave 2 shyts about. Not two shyts
And they still riding with Sony TV's

So basically they throwing in the towel on one venture, and will struggle out the other

All this is really saying is sony is not in a position to
They are cutting the fat right now, the writing is on the wall

When 2015 hits, and Xbots will be so full from Titanfall, Halo 5, Sunset Overdrive, games like that?
I see sony getting turned down AGAIN by nintendo.
Same nikkaz you pass on the way up, you see again on the way down

The best looking 1080p LED TV on the market is the Sony 55" W900a...only prob is it only comes in 55 inches currently..but pic quality wise..it shyts on every Samsung LED..even the F8000..

 

[teacher]

hopefully this means a mean price drop on 4k TV's

 

[GoldenGlove]

Is this really thread worthy?
So sony sells off something nobody gave 2 shyts about. Not two shyts
And they still riding with Sony TV's

So basically they throwing in the towel on one venture, and will struggle out the other

All this is really saying is sony is not in a position to
They are cutting the fat right now, the writing is on the wall

When 2015 hits, and Xbots will be so full from Titanfall, Halo 5, Sunset Overdrive, games like that?
I see sony getting turned down AGAIN by nintendo.
Same nikkaz you pass on the way up, you see again on the way down

What's good with Double Helix getting bought out by Amazon though? What's going to happen with Killer Instinct?

 

[PS5 Pro]

Film/TV, Music, Digital Imaging/Cameras, Gaming, Smartphones/Tablet, Finance, & Insurance - all profitable for Sony..They done finally cut off the money-bleeding divisions. They gonna be fine.

The best looking 1080p LED TV on the market is the Sony 55" W900a...only prob is it only comes in 55 inches currently..but pic quality wise..it shyts on every Samsung LED..even the F8000..

What's good with Double Helix getting bought out by Amazon though? What's going to happen with Killer Instinct?

Double Helix worked on it, but they worked "with" the creators and basically just put in what they wanted
Then they oversaw how it was coming together, took the input from Ken Lobb/etc
It was a game that was already made, just remade. They have very little to do with the design of the game
Just helped with development. And they was glad too, they love Killer Instinct as a franchise

Double Helix has made a ton of shytty games as well, they not batting 1,000
If its that easy, ok, make another HOV

 

[Rekkapryde]

Vaios used to be dope back in the day.

Yup. problem is you can get shyt just as good and better for cheaper now.