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Sony Is Weighing a Sale of Film, TV Business (nypost.com)

Posted by msmash on from the musical-chair dept.

Sony could be exploring the sale of its film and television unit just a week after announcing the departure of Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton. From a report: Tokyo's Sony Corp. is listening to bank pitches about a potential sale of its film and TV operations, several sources told The Post. "Every bank is pushing pitches," said one person familiar with the process. Another confirmed that banks have paid a flurry of visits to Tokyo to advise on a sale of Sony's film and TV business. The Post was first to report that the Japanese owners were ready to listen to bid proposals if they had the right number attached. CBS CEO Leslie Moonves has long signaled interest in acquiring the asset, though several Chinese bidders could be in the wings. Sony CEO Kaz Hirai has denied any intent to sell the firm during the five years he's been in the top slot at the company. Still, he has not appointed a successor to Lynton, despite knowing of his intention to depart for some time. That has sparked speculation that there may be no position to fill.

5 of 37 comments (clear)

  1. Would be great... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...maybe then they could stop fucking up every single product with copyprotection (which soley killed the MD)...

  2. Good Idea! by methano · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Sony was once a technological wonderhaus and then they started buying content. Then the content guys started dictating the technology direction, mostly surrounding protecting their content. The result was that Sony, who invented the walkman, couldn't make a usable iPod competitor.

    They should sell Sir Paul his stuff back and go back to being tech wizards.

    And maybe Apple should look at Sony before they go down the same path.

    Full disclosure: I own stock in both.

    1. Re:Good Idea! by Dogtanian · · Score: 2

      I've commented before on how MiniDisc *could* have pre-empted MP3 and the portable audio revolution if it had been used to its full potential rather than intentionally hobbled in order to protect Sony's content business.

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    2. Re:Good Idea! by HiThere · · Score: 2

      They have NOT re-established their reputation as a reputable technology company. That's going to take a LOT of work. Possibly as much as it took to build it in the first place, and they not only destroyed something that had taken decades to build over the course of a year, they repeated the offense multiple times by doing things like hiring people to put root kits into their devices, and then offering a "repair" that left you vulnerable to trivial attacks.

      It's going to take lots of time and effort to repair their reputation. One good device that isn't yet known to be backdoored isn't going to do the job.

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      I think we've pushed this "anyone can grow up to be president" thing too far.
  3. Re:Yet another Disney subsidiary? by EvilSS · · Score: 2

    Somehow, I wouldn't be surprised to see Disney throw their hat in the ring. They've been buying up content properties left and right, lately.

    (Not honestly sure whether that would be a good thing or a bad thing, though...)

    They probably wouldn't mind getting the Sony licensed Marvel properties back either.

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