adminTOKYO. – Sony is in talks to sell its personal computer business to a Japanese investment fund as part of the electronics giant’s wider restructuring, reports said yesterday.The leading Nikkei business daily said Sony was looking to sell the division to Japan Industrial Partners for between 40 billion yen and 50 billion yen (US$396 million to US$495 million).
The fund would set up a new company that will continue selling PCs and laptops under the Vaio brand, in which Sony would retain a small stake, the Nikkei and other local media reported.
That way Sony would still
Sony had just a 1,9 percent share of the global PC market in the first nine months of last year, according to the Nikkei. A Sony spokesman said the reports were “not based on anything we have announced so we decline to comment on them we will announce our future positions when and if the time comes, so we won’t comment.
“But we are studying various options for our PC business”.
He said if the move comes to fruition then it will be another giant step for the computer firm as it streamlines. Sony shares rose 4,57 percent to 1,600 yen in Tokyo yesterday, recovering its losses the previous day on the back of a broad market sell-off.
The reports come after public broadcaster NHK said at the weekend that Sony was in talks with Chinese computer giant Lenovo to set up a joint venture for its overseas PC business.
It added that Sony was doing a separate deal for its domestic business with an investment fund at home. Sony, which reports its latest financial results on Thursday, has called the NHK report “inaccurate”.
Last week, Moody’s cut its credit rating on Sony to junk, saying the once-dominant firm had more work to do in repairing its battered balance sheet.
Japan’s embattled electronics industry, including Sony’s rivals Panasonic and Sharp, has been undergoing painful restructuring to stem years of huge losses, largely tied to the low-margin TV business.
Experts predict that it will take some time before the electronics industry can rise up again to former levels. – AFP.
Online Reporter