Sony is splitting its PC and TV business, selling off its Vaio unit and trimming 5,000 jobs worldwide.
Sony, one of the leading electronics manufacturers, is taking drastic measures to turn the company into a profitable organization after suffering heavy losses from the past year. The Japanese tech company is carrying out an organized process, starting with selling off its Vaio PC business to an investment fund called Japan Industrial Partners, followed by setting up its TV business as a subsidiary. The company also revealed plans to trim its workforce down by 5,000 jobs in Japan and overseas by March 2015, Wall Street Journal reports.
Sony's latest moves are an attempt b the company to bounce back from losses, after posting Thursday that it now expects to lose ¥110 billion ($1.1 billion) in the fiscal year ending March. But the company is already seeing some benefits as Sony posted a net profit of ¥27 billion ($266 million) for the quarter ending December, after reporting a loss of ¥10.8 billion ($178 million) in the same quarter a year before.
The chief contributor for a change in Sony's fortunes was the PlayStation 4, which showed strong sales and a good exchange rate due to weak yen currency.
Sony is also struggling with its PC business as people have shifted interest to tablets and smartphones. To focus on the leading products like its popular gaming console, the company has reportedly decided to distance its TV business from PCs and operate the TV lineup as a subsidiary by July. Other reports also claimed that Sony will close a deal with Japan Industrial Partners to sell its Vaio brand by July 1.
"The PC is no longer the magnet platform for new technology on applications. When it was, it was worth being in PCs just to be working with the latest technology," Jim McGregor, founder and principal analyst for Tirias Research, shared his opinion with EE Times. "The magnet platforms are now in mobile and servers. The best option is to sell the group to another PC vendor and hopefully minimize the expenses of doing so. I'm sure that there are a few Chinese or other Asian vendors that may be interested in acquiring Sony's PC group."
