Sony Group Corporation is a well-known multinational technology company. From cameras to smartphones and from manufacturing laptops to making entertainment content, the company is a conglomerate. Sony was founded exactly 75 years ago in 1946 in Nihonbashi, Japan, and today it operates from its headquarters in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The company is known for its quality product and has its branches all over the world. Sony trades as a public company and is counted among one of the world’s largest manufacturers of consumer and professional electronic products.
The Founding of Sony
As soon the world war 2 was over, in May 1946, Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka started an electronics company named Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (trading name TTK). The company launched Japan’s first tape recorder in 1958, the Type-G. After multiple name changes of the company, the founders renamed the company Sony in the same year.
The company specialized in making tape recorders and hit the U.S. market with its new launch, TR-63 radio, during the mid-50s. The portable transistor radios from Sony were in high demand, and in a span of ten years, starting from 1955, the company sold 100,000 units to American residents. In 1960, the company established the American branch of Sony Corporation. Sony had also become a great support for the Japanese economy, as the company was offering jobs to middle-aged Japanese people. The quality of the Sony products also brought faith among the American consumers for Japanese products.
The Years of Growth and Expansion
Other than making electronic products, Sony was also excelling in the other fields. In 1979, the company started an insurance company. Due to the recession in the 70s and 80s, it also started to manufacture Compact Disc to support the business. In the 90s, the company entered the gaming business and launched the most famous PlayStation. For further expansion, Sony also acquired CBS Records in 1988 and Columbia Pictures in 1989 and started its career in the entertainment and media business.
In 1997, the company in a partnership with Phillips and Toshiba launched DVD, and it was also among the first ones to develop the Blu-ray optical disc format, which became popular in 2006 and onwards. In 2000 Sony also started to manufacture mobile phones, and in the next year, it partnered with Ericsson, establishing Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications. The partnership between the two brought a few of the first camera phones, which became really popular among people around the world. In 2012, Sony bought all the shares in Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications and launched new series of smartphones under the name Xperia.
On the other hand, the company continuously focused on its gaming business and launched the portable PlayStation console, the PlayStation Portable, in 2004. The same year, it also established Sony BMG, an entertainment wing in partnership with Bertelsmann AG. In 2010, the company introduced the first mirrorless interchangeable-lens cameras, and its global sales reached US$7.2 billion. In November 2011, Sony ranked 9th (jointly with Panasonic) in Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics.
Sony launched the first 4K OLED television in 2012 and became the third-largest maker of televisions in the world. In 2013, it had become one of the leaders in the smartphone industry. Sony sold its Vaio PC division in 2014. By 2015, Sony was also exploring possibilities in manufacturing self-driving cars and invested $842 thousand in ZMP INC.
In 2015, the company acquired the image sensor business of Toshiba, and the next year, it released the first PlayStation VR. The company introduced the OLED televisions under the brand name Bravia in 2017 and sold 13.5 million phones as well as 73.6 million units of PlayStation 4, the same year. The company became the largest manufacturer of CMOS image sensors in 2020.
Products and Services
Sony is a conglomerate and works in multiple divisions, including game & network services, music, pictures, electronics products & solutions, imaging & sensing solutions, financial services, etc. Sony started by manufacturing tape recorders, but today it is known for its other high-quality products like 4K TV, high-quality Cameras, PlayStation, smartphone, computing devices, robotics products, etc. The company has its separate wing for entertainment and media business and is also into healthcare and biotechnology.
The CEO: Masaru Ibuka
Masaru Ibuka is one of the founders of Sony. He was born on 11 April 1908 in Nikkō City, Japan. He completed his high school education from Hyogo Prefectural Kobe High School and graduated from Waseda University. His first job after graduating was at Photo-Chemical Laboratory, a movie film company. But later, he had to join the navy during World War II. After the war ended, he started a radio repair shop in Nihonbashi, Tokyo in 1945.
Akio Morita, on the other hand, was born on 26 January 1921 in Nagoya, Aichi, Japan. He graduated in Physics from the Osaka Imperial University in 1944. He joined the Imperial Japanese Navy as a sub-lieutenant during world war II, where he met Ibuka. Morita saw a newspaper article about Ibuka’s radio shop and contacted him to join the business. Both then founded Sony in 1946 as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo.
Yashica is a Software Engineer turned Content Writer, who loves to write on social causes and expertise in writing technical stuff. She loves to watch movies and explore new places. She believes that you need to live once before you die. So experimenting with her life and career choices, she is trying to live her life to the fullest.