Sony to Spin off Video-Audio Unit
19 February 2015 12:10 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – Japanese electronics giant Sony Corporation has announced the plan to spin off its video-and-audio business into a separate company as part of a three-year plan to regain profits. After the loss it suffered, Sony now aims to book an operating profit of ¥500 billion (Rp53 trillion) by March 2018.
Sony is projecting to have lost ¥170 billion (approx. Rp18 trillion) in this fiscal year, an increase from the previous year's ¥40 billion yen loss.
The firm is also planning to shrink the size of its head office as part of restructuring, ad said it would not pay a year-end dividend for the first time.
On Wednesday, Feb. 18, Sony executive chairman Kazuo Hirai, said the company will no longer pursue sales growth in areas with high rivalry, such as the such as smartphone market where Sony receives tough competition from Apple and Samsung. Sony instead plans to will focus on profitable business, including entertainment operations such as TV programming and the game station businesses.
Mr. Hirai said the audio-video spin off will be carried in October this year.
BBC
