Sony will not Sell Off TV And Mobile Spinoffs

Sony President Kazuo Hirai clarified on Wednesday that the company will not immediately sell off the spun out TV and mobile phone business.

Sony announced earlier this months that the company will spin out struggling business units like TV and mobile. Sony earnings have been sluggish and for the first time the company will not pay any dividends to share holders. Sony President Kazuo Hirai said to reporters on Wednesday that the spinoffs are not up for sale. 

“It’s not that we proceed toward immediate sale or withdrawal,” Hirai told reporters Wednesday. Splitting off businesses is “a way to promote independence at each unit, make clear where responsibility lies, and turn Sony into a highly profitable company as a whole,” he said according to Japanese news site Mainichi.

Sony is not ruling out to sell off spinoffs, but for now the plan is to bring back Sony to profitabilities. Kazuo Hirai has set a forecast that has the highest earnings Sony had in 20 years. Hirai targets a consolidated operating profit of more than 500 billion yen (4.2 billion USD) for the Sony Group in the 2017 fiscal year.

Sony has some great performing units including their PlayStation business that gives Microsoft and Nintendo a hard time in the home console market.

Sony had the been the premiere TV brand decades ago. The company is not the first consumer electronics giant that got rid of their struggling TV business. Philips, Hitachi and German Grundig are among the TV brand that threw in the towel and sold their Television businesses. Sony still makes great TVs, but the South Korean competition is fierce and margins are hitting rock bottom.

Sony already sold off a business unit. The company has sold their personal computer business a year ago. If you buy a Sony VAIO laptop today, it is not actually made by Sony.