Sony

Sony (In katakana: ソニー ; In Kanji: 新力) is a consumer electronics giant based in Tokyo, Japan. The name was coined by founder Akio Morita to convey "sound" and "sonny" for youth and energy. It was founded on May 7, 1946 as the Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering with about 20 employees. Their first consumer product, in the late 1940s, was a rice boiler. As it grew into a major international corporation, Sony acquired other companies with longer histories, including Columbia Records (the oldest continuously produced brand name in recorded sound, dating back to 1888).

In 2000 Sony had sales of 63 billion USD and 189,700 employees.

Table of contents showTocToggle("show","hide") 1 Noteworthy products 2 Sony Music Entertainment 3 Movies & Theaters 4 External links

Noteworthy products

• PlayStation
• Walkman
• Minidisc
• Betamax
• Aibo
• VAIO

Sony Music Entertainment

In 1988, Sony acquired CBS (Columbia) Records Group from CBS. It was renamed "Sony Music Entertainment".

Movies & Theaters

• Columbia Tri-Star
• Columbia Pictures
• Tri-Star Pictures
• Jim Henson Productions (partial interest)
• Mandalay Entertainment (partial interest)
• Phoenix Pictures (partial interest)
• Sony Pictures Classics
• Sony Pictures Entertainment
• Columbia-Tri Star Home Video
• Sony/Lowes Theaters
• Magic Johnson Theaters
• Loews - Star Theaters
  • Metreon[?] in San Francisco

External links

• The Sony website (http://www.world.sony.com)
• Snopes article on the name (http://www.snopes2.com/business/names/sony.htm)
• History of Columbia Records/Sony Music Entertainment (http://www.sonymusic.com/world/aboutus/history.html)