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Sony (In katakana: ソニー ; In Kanji: 新力 this writing has the meaning of new power) is a consumer electronics corporation based in Tokyo, Japan. 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).
The name was coined by founder Akio Morita to convey "sound" and "sonny" for youth and energy.
In 1988, Sony acquired CBS (Columbia) Records Group from CBS. It was renamed "Sony Music Entertainment".
In 2000, Sony had sales of US $63 billion and 189,700 employees. Sony acquired Aiwa corporation in 2002.
Notable products
Film production & theaters
- Columbia/Tri-Star, including:
- 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