Sony Pictures Entertainment
Main article: Sony Pictures
Sony Pictures Plaza, next to the main studio lot of Sony Pictures in Culver City
Sony entered the television and film production market when it acquired Columbia Pictures Entertainment in 1989 for $3.4 billion. Columbia lives on in the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, a subsidiary of SPE which in turn owns Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures. SPE's television division is known as Sony Pictures Television.
For the first several years of its existence, Sony Pictures Entertainment performed poorly, leading many to suspect the company would sell off the division.[64] Sony Pictures Entertainment encountered controversy in the early 2000s. In July 2000, a marketing executive working for Sony Corporation created a fictitious film critic, David Manning, who gave consistently good reviews for releases from Sony subsidiary Columbia Pictures that generally received poor reviews amongst real critics.[65] Sony later pulled the ads, suspended Manning's creator and his supervisor and paid fines to the state of Connecticut[66] and to fans who saw the reviewed films in the US.[67] In 2006 Sony started using ARccOS Protection on some of their film DVDs, but later issued a recall.[68]
Sony Music Entertainment
Main article: Sony Music
Sony Music Entertainment (also known as SME or Sony Music) is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big three" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony. The company owns full or partial rights to the catalogues of Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Usher, Eminem, Akon and others.In one of its largest-ever acquisitions, Sony purchased CBS Record Group in 1987 for US$2 billion. In the process, Sony gained the rights to the catalogue of Michael Jackson, considered by the Guinness Book of World Records to be the most successful entertainer of all time. The acquisition of CBS Records provided the foundation for the formation of Sony Music Entertainment, which Sony established in 1991.
In 2004, Sony entered into a joint venture with Bertelsmann AG, merging Sony Music Entertainment with Bertelsmann Music Group to create Sony BMG. In 2005, Sony BMG faced a copy protection scandal, because its music CDs had installed malware on users' computers that was posing a security risk to affected customers.[69] In 2007, the company acquired Famous Music for US$370 million, gaining the rights to the catalogues of Eminem and Akon, among others.
Sony bought out Bertelsmann's share in the company and formed a new Sony Music Entertainment in 2008. Since then, the company has undergone management changes. In January 1988, Sony acquired CBS Records and the 50% of CBS/Sony Group. In March 1988, four wholly owned subsidiaries were folded into CBS/Sony Group and the company was renamed as Sony Music Entertainment Japan
Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Main article: Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Besides its record label, Sony operates other music businesses. In 1995, Sony purchased a 50% stake in ATV Music Publishing,
forming Sony/ATV Music Publishing. At the time, the publishing company
was the second-largest of its kind in the world. The company owns much
of the publishing rights to the catalog of The Beatles. Sony purchased
digital music recognition company Gracenote for $260 million USD in 2008.[70]Finance
Sony Financial Services
Sony Financial Holdings is a holding company for Sony's financial services business. It owns and oversees the operation of Sony Life (in Japan and the Philippines), Sony Assurance, Sony Bank and Sony Bank Securities. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan.Sony Financial accounts for half of Sony's global earnings.[71] The unit proved the most profitable of Sony's businesses in fiscal year 2006, earning $1.7 billion in profit.[20] Sony Financial's low fees have aided the unit's popularity while threatening Sony's premium brand name.[20]
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