Sony Corp Chief Executive Officer Nobuyuki Idei reminded an audience at a conference earlier this month why content matters.
"Japan needs to free itself from a culture that pays little attention to the content business or it will fall behind China and its other competitors around the world," Idei said in a speech to about 500 executives and engineers.
Idei is again putting words into action. The world's second-largest consumer electronics maker, owner of a movie studio and its own music business, is pushing ahead with its bid to buy the main assets of KirchMedia GmbH even after German publisher WAZ Group and Commerzbank AG, Germany's fourth-largest bank, abandoned a joint bid.
By snapping up media assets -- the rights to Germany's biggest film library in the case of KirchMedia -- Sony would gain contents that would otherwise take years to develop. The next step is piping it to Sony products such as game consoles or portable stereos. The combination of Internet capabilities and digital media, Idei reckons, distinguishes Sony from rivals such as Taiwan's Acer Inc (
Investors still aren't convinced the plan will work. Sony's shares failed to receive a boost when Germany's Business newspaper first reported the company would bid for KirchMedia's assets in partnership with WAZ Group and Commerzbank. Since the June 9 report, Sony's shares fell 22 percent, only slightly better than the 24 percent declines for the Nikkei 225 Stock Average and rival Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.
Sony said Monday it bounced back into profit in the September quarter powered by restructuring efforts, demand for video games and a tax gain.
But the consumer electronics giant cut a full-year sales forecast due to uncertain global demand for electronics in the second half.
In the three months to September, Sony posted a group net profit of ?44.1 billion (US$361 million) reversing a ?13.2 billion loss a year earlier.
"In the electronics business, strong sales of consumer audio visual products, a recovery in our semiconductor and components business and the positive impact of restructuring activities that we accelerated since last year caused a steady improvement in profitability," Sony chairman and chief executive Nobuyuki Idei said.
For all Idei's talk of the digital future and investments in digital production technologies -- Sony and Panavision Inc provided the digital cameras used to shoot the latest installment of the Star Wars saga -- Sony is still primarily a consumer-electronics maker. In the company's fiscal first quarter, Sony's electronics business accounted for 95 percent of its operating profit and 71 percent of total sales.
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ALL-IN-ONE: A company in Tainan and another in New Taipei City offer tours to China during which Taiwanese can apply for a Chinese ID card, the source said The National Immigration Agency and national security authorities have identified at least five companies that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese identification cards while traveling in China, a source said yesterday. The issue has garnered attention in the past few months after YouTuber “Pa Chiung” (八炯) said that there are companies in Taiwan that help Taiwanese apply for Chinese documents. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) last week said that three to five public relations firms in southern and northern Taiwan have allegedly assisted Taiwanese in applying for Chinese ID cards and were under investigation for potential contraventions of the Act Governing
STAY WARM: Sixty-three nontraumatic incidents of OHCA were reported on Feb. 1, the most for a single day this year, the National Fire Agency said A total of 415 cases of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) occurred this month as of Saturday, data from the National Fire Agency showed as doctors advised people to stay warm amid cold weather, particularly people with cardiovascular disease. The Central Weather Administration yesterday issued a low temperature warning nationwide except for Penghu County, anticipating sustained lows of 10°C or a dip to below 6°C in Nantou, Yilan, Hualien and Taitung counties, as well as areas north of Yunlin County. The coldest temperature recorded in flat areas of Taiwan proper yesterday morning was 6.4°C in New Taipei City’s Shiding District (石碇). Sixty-three nontraumatic OHCA
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
RSS