Sony Mobile is merged with TV, audio and camera companies to avoid further losses
Earlier this week, Sony announced a " key enterprise and executive agreement adaptation " from April 1, 2019. The very brief announcement also contains important information about the company's main business and the changes that will affect them will begin next week .
In a surprising move, Sony has decided to merge three of its most profitable businesses with the mobile department. Imaging Products & Solutions (IP & S), Home Entertainment & Sound (HE & S), and mobile communications business will be combined in a single unit called Electronics Products & Solutions (EP & S).
Another important part of the information is that Sony's legendary chairman Kazuo Hirai, one of the most surprising turnarounds in the Japanese electronics industry, will retire in June after 35 years working for the company.
Hirai passed the CEO's position to Kenichiro Yoshida a year ago, and as he retires on June 1[ads1]8, he will continue to provide advice requested by the chief executive team, acting as senior company advisor.
Since I passed the relay post of Yoshida-san's CEO in April of April, as chairman of Sony, I have had the opportunity to both ensure a smooth transition and support Sons management. I am convinced that everyone at Sony is fully aligned with Yoshida's strong leadership and is ready to build an even brighter future for Sony. As such, I have decided to leave Sony, which has been a part of my life for the past 35 years. I would like to extend my warmest gratitude to all our employees and stakeholders who have supported me throughout this journey.
More importantly, his efforts in the gaming department paid a lot of time and the same applies to investment in image sensors, as Sony is now one of the largest providers of camera components in the smartphone industry.
As he stepped down from the CEO's position, Sony's entertainment and imaging business was more profitable than ever (and still is), but the smartphone division continues to soften money.
Is it a good idea to hide the problem under the carpet?
Reports on a possible sale of Sony's mobile division discovered last year, probably putting more pressure on the company's current manager, Kenichiro Yoshida. Today's announcements put an end to these rumors, but make the decision to hide the problem under the carpet.
After a fourth straight unprofitable quarter, it appears that Sony is determined to hide the losses in the mobile department behind a conglomerate of profitable businesses. If you are wondering why Sony is still betting on smartphones, the Japanese company said that 5G is the kind of technology that can make things better.
How to do it, it remains to be seen. The bottom line is that we will probably see less red numbers in Sony's revenue reports every quarter since the profits of the other three businesses are more than enough to hide the mobile division's losses.
What the official statement does not cover is whether or not this "adaptation" means redundancies among the mobile department staff, or this is just an administrative reorganization. Sony launched 200 employees in Europe back in December to cut costs in a variety of mobile business areas, and a few days ago, the Japanese company confirmed plans to close an entire smartphone factory in China.
With the smartphone factory closed, we can see smaller Xperia smartphones on the market, but if things go unexpectedly well, Sony can always use third-party manufacturers to supplement stock if needed.
Clearly, Sony Mobile is not what it once was, but if the Japanese company thinks this is how it can save its smartphone business, we are all for it.
