Sony Corporation
Company:Sony Corporation
Founders:
Industry: Sony Corporation is a conglomerate corporation manufacturing video, electronics, information technology, video game consoles, and communications products.
History:
The company started out in 1945, in a derelict bombed-out building in Tokyo, Japan where Masaru Ibuka started a radio repair shop. He was joined by Akio Morita a year later. They founded the Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K., which in English, translates to Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation.
Ibuka traveled to the US in the early 1950s where he discovered the transistor, invented by Bell Labs. Ibuka managed to acquire a license from the inventors and applied the invention in the communications field. Ibuka’s company and their research paved the way for the American companies Texas Instruments and Regency to successfully sell the first transistor radios commercially.
Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering made the first commercially-produced transistor radio in Japan, the Sony TR-55.
In 1956, Ibuka and Morita’s company rolled out the TR-6, the first ever transistor radio whose sound quality rivaled that of portable tube radios. A year later, they released the TR-63, then the smallest transistor radio to come out of production. The product achieved worldwide success. With the advent of rock and roll, portable radios became wildly popular. By the end of 1968, the company’s sales totaled an estimated 5,000,000 units.
In January 1958, Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation changed their name to Sony.
Some of the important acquisitions and ventures of Sony are:
- In 1988, CBS Records Group was acquired and renamed “Sony Music Entertainment.”
- In 1989, for $3.4 billion, Sony bought Columbia Pictures Entertainment from Coca-Cola and renamed it “Sony Pictures Entertainment.”
- In October 2001, Sony Corporation and Ericsson AB launched Sony Ericsson, a 50-50 joint venture.
- In April 2004, a joint venture of Sony and Samsung Electronics Co. LTD, S-LCD Corporation, was established.
As of 2007, Sony Corporation had revenues totaling $70.303 billion, making it one of the world’s wealthiest companies. The company is also acknowledged to be among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders.
Leadership:
