Sony to get full control of financial unit to weather crisis
20 May, 2020
Sony Corp plans to create its financial services unit a wholly owned subsidiary to make sure stability as it rides out the hardships brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
“We will be in a position to perform more flexible management,” Kenichiro Yoshida, chief executive of japan entertainment and electronics company, told reporters in a livestream news conference Tuesday.
Tokyo-based Sony is making a tender offer for the shares of Sony Financial Holdings Inc., which it now owns about 65%.
Sony said the business name will become Sony Group Corp, after shareholders' approval later this year, effective April 1, 2021. Its electronics segment will take on the Sony Corp name, it said.
Sony technology will probably prove useful in future financial services, including the fintech area, it said, providing “synergies.” It will enhance profitability, it said.
That term, employed by Sony for years, refers to how differing of its sprawling operations could work together for overall gain.
That strategy of diversification is helping it as certain parts of Sony's business struggle while others, such as products linked to healthcare and public safety, perform well during the crisis.
The coronavirus crisis has delayed Sony music and movie releases and disrupted its product supply chains.
The other day, Sony announced its profit crashed 86% in January-March from a year earlier to 12.6 billion yen ($118 million), a fraction of the 87.9 billion yen earned in the same quarter of the previous year.
The outbreak has crimped consumer spending, shut concert halls, cancelled events and sent share prices falling - all damaging for Sony. Consumer demand declined, especially in regions where lockdowns closed retailers. Shutdowns of factories in China and Malaysia have also hurt.
Akio Morita, Sony’s late founder, always stressed long-term management, and the need for a clear purpose and direction, Yoshida said. “Personally i think that is more crucial, now that the new coronavirus outbreak has changed the world.”
He said Sony’s strengths remain unchanged, in bringing persons together and moving people emotionally, while discovering devices like its hit CMOS sensor for images in smartphones.
“People’s values are likely to change. Everyone on earth is now considering what is truly important to us?” he said. “And which means we continue steadily to grow near to people.”
Source: japantoday.com
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