Sony Corporation

Sony Corporation-Company Information

Sony was founded in Tokyo in 1946 by engineer Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita, a physicist. They started the company with 20 employees repairing electrical equipment and attempting to build their own products. The company's success started in 1946 when Sony launched Japan's first transistor and the first "all-transistor" radio in 1955. In the more than 50 years since the company first began trading, it has grown from 20 employees to over 160,000 people around the world.

The name Sony was chosen from the Latin word sonus, which is the root of sonic and sound, and the English word "sunny."

Sony Corporation of America was established in the United States.

Today, Sony Corporation develops and manufactures consumer and industrial electronic equipment. The Company's products include audio and video equipment, televisions, displays, electronic components, computers and computer peripherals, and telecommunication equipment. The Company is also active in the worldwide music and image-based software markets. Since the 1980's, Sony had transformed itself from an electronics company to a global entertainment company with such products. Some of this company's major competitors include Matsushita, Philips, and Sanyo. The world's first CD player was launched in October 1982.

Sony conducts insurance operations through Sony Life, a Japanese life insurance subsidiary, and Sony Assurance Inc., a Japanese non-life insurance subsidiary. Sony is engaged in a leasing and credit financing business in Japan through Finance International Inc. It also conducts an internet-based banking business in Japan through Sony Bank Inc. which is an eighty percent directly owned subsidiary of Sony Financial holdings.

Sony acquired Columbia records from CBS and it was named Sony Music Entertainment. Sony has been historically notable for pushing its own in-house standards for new recording and storage technologies, which are often different from those of other manufacturers or of market trends and standards.

On July 20th, 2004, the European Union approves a 50-50 merger between Sony Music Entertainment and BMG. The new company will be called Sony BMG, and will control 60 percent of the world wide market. On September 13th, 2004, a Sony led group finalized the