PC division to be sold to investment fund, mobile business to concentrate on tablets and smartphones
There has been much rumor and speculation surrounding Sony in the past few days, but with the release of its Fiscal Q3 2013 results we’ve learned some what lies ahead for the Japanese manufacturer. Talking about the good points first; the Mobile Products & Communications division saw a 44.8% increase in sales year-on-year to $4.396 billion, with its operating loss reducing by $120 million.
The relative success in mobile comes despite being lumped together with the personal PC business, and is in part due to a “significant increase” in the sales of smartphones and the average smartphone selling price.
Perhaps the bigger news from Sony however is that the VAIO PC business will in fact be sold on, and the TV part of the company will be retained but spun off into a separate unit. The massive restructure will cut 5,000 jobs and take $988 million from its fixed costs over the long term. It’s expected to be in place by March 2015, with the changes to the TV division taking place by July of this year.
All this means that Sony’s mobile business will now re-focus on smartphones and tablets going forward. The three core businesses will become mobile, gaming and imaging, within which Sony makes some pretty fantastic products. It’ll take a little while for it all to unfold properly, but a renewed focus on phones and tablets has us interested.
Source: Sony (1),(2)