Japan-based Sony Corporation started in 1946 as Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering, with three employees. Now, it boasts more than 180,000 employees worldwide and over $58 billion in sales for 2001. Its Sony Pictures Entertainment is one of the seven major movie houses in Hollywood, while Sony Music is one of the top five distributors of albums worldwide. Heading into 2003, Sony's strategy is a gamble: connecting each of its consumer products to the Internet and then using them as a platform to deliver content from its entertainment divisions. Meanwhile, revenue from video games and movies has kept it atop of the Japanese electronics industry. [Note: The following breakdown reflects interests and assets as of early 2001.]
Sony Electronics
Sony Life Insurance
Metreon (a mall in San Francisco)
Sony Pictures Digital Entertainment
Sony Online Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment (computer games, PlayStation)
Production/Distribution
Columbia TriStar Domestic Television
Columbia TriStar International Television
Sony Pictures Family Entertainment
Telemundo Group (partial ownership)
Cable
Sony Entertainment Television (India, Latin America)
Game Show Network (jointly owned with Liberty Digital)
HBO Asia (partial ownership)
SET Asia (partial ownership)
Cinemax Asia (partial ownership)
HBO Ole, Latin America (partial ownership)
Cinemax, Latin America (partial ownership)
E! Entertainment Television, Latin America (partial ownership)
The Movie Channel, Middle East (partial ownership)
Showtime, Australia (partial ownership)
Encore, Australia (partial ownership)
Sky Cinema, Japan (partial ownership)
Record labels
Columbia Records
Epic Records
Harmony Records
Legacy Recordings
Loud Records
Sony Music Soundtracks
Monument and Lucky Dog
Soho Square
Mambo
Rubenstein
Dragnet
Squatt
Sony Classical
Arc of Light
Masterworks
Sony Broadway
SEON
Vivarte
Distribution
Columbia House Music Club (joint venture with AOL Time Warner)
pressplay (joint venture with AOL Time Warner)
Production/Distribution
Sony Pictures Entertainment
-Columbia Pictures
-Sony Pictures Classics
-Screen Gems
TriStar Pictures
Columbia TriStar Films (U.K.)
Columbia TriStar Film Distributors
Sony Pictures Imageworks (animation)
Sony Pictures Studios
Theaters
Loews Theatres (partial ownership)
Star Theatres (partial ownership)
Cineplex Odeon (partial ownership)
Plitt Theatres (partial ownership)
RKO Century Warner Theatres (partial ownership)
Walter Reade Theatres (partial ownership)
Merchandise
Sony Pictures Consumer Products
Video
Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment
Columbia House Video & Disc Club (joint venture with AOL Time Warner)
