While if asked what Sony does most people would immediately think of televisions, PlayStation, and car stereo systems, there is far more to the company than a lot of people realise. Over the years, Sony has branched out into several other markets, as follows:
Electronics
Arguably the most well-recognised market Sony is in, electronics have been the backbone of the company since its conception and continue to this day to be a large part of what Sony produces. Products such as television sets, audio equipment, cameras, video equipment are all still produced by the company today, and for a time Sony also dabbled in the computing market but withdrew in 1990 to focus on other things. Today the Sony name is synonymous with quality and is a world leader in electronics. Lesser known is that Sony is a large producer of semiconductors, advanced medical equipment, and mobile phones. Often Sony releases electronic products under other names, but they are produced to the same high standard of manufacturing Sony is renowned for.
Electric Vehicles and Batteries
As a company that is always looking to the future is perhaps of no surprise that Sony is also invested in the electric vehicle and batteries markets. The focus of the company is on providing lithium-ion batteries for use in electric vehicles, and the production of EV charging stations as seen in a growing number of car parking lots around the world. Though electric vehicle batteries were developing a growing need worldwide in 2016, Sony announced that it would sell its battery division to Murata Manufacturing.
Entertainment
In addition to manufacturing top quality products for customers to view movies and listen to music, Sony decided that producing the music and movies would be a great addition to the company portfolio of businesses. Sony Pictures Entertainment encompasses movie and television and has been highly ranked in the entertainment production world. Though most people take very little notice of which company produces the best-loved television shows and box office movies, Sony is the name behind some notable ones. Spider-Man (the movie), The Karate Kid and Men in Black, all three very successful movies in their own right, were all produced by Sony. Of note in the world of television shows Jeopardy!, a hugely popular game show, and Wheel of Fortune, also extremely popular, were both products of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Sony began its foray into the world of producing movies and television shows by purchasing Colombia Pictures Entertainment in 1989 and later TriStar Pictures. It wasn’t an easy road ahead for the newly formed division of Sony, however, and at one stage critics expected Sony Pictures Entertainment to close its doors forever. The division struggled on until eventually, it began to see success, notably with the release of the aforementioned movies and television shows.
Movies and television were not the only businesses Sony decided to enter the world of entertainment. Having had experience with the popularity of music from their early days in producing the first portable music player, Sony decided to grab a piece of the music production pie. The acquisition of CBS Record Group in 1988 contributed to the company becoming the second-largest recorded music company worldwide, second of the “big three” record companies. Owning CBS Record Group allowed Sony to become the owner of rights to the catalogue of Michael Jackson, a major coup for the company. It has since acquired several other music recording companies, growing its share of the market considerably.
In addition to its music recording label, Sony merged with ATV Music Publishing in 1995, and the newly formed company now owns the publishing rights to over 4 million music compositions. The music of such well-known artists as Lady Gaga, Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift and the iconic Bob Dylan are all included in those publishing rights, along with the catalogue of arguably the greatest band of all time The Beatles (Lennon-McCartney).
Financial Services
While financial services may seem quite a deviation from the kind of businesses Sony typically is involved in, it nevertheless has branched out into the banking, insurance and securities markets, with some success. Sony Financial Holdings is based in Tokyo, Japan, and accounts for around half of the parent company’s earnings worldwide.
Sony is also competing in the mobile payments market, against such giants as Samsung and Apple. Plans have been made to utilise advanced technology (contact-less) to allow commuters using public transport across Asia to pay for their trip automatically. This would be enabled either by embedding a chip within the user’s Smartphone or by producing a card with the chip embedded in it. These chips would electronically store the required information and make it readily available to be read. The use of radio-frequency identification is thought to make the transportation system in Asia more user-friendly.
