Sony Corp

SNE · TSE · Tech, Video games, Entertainment, Electronics, Conglomerate, Tech Hardware · Founded 1946

Sony Group Corporation is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered at the Sony City building in Minato, Tokyo. The Sony Group is a highly diversified global conglomerate with businesses spanning video games, music, film and television, consumer electronics, imaging and sensing, semiconductors, financial services and others. Sony was founded in 1946 as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K. by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita. In 1958, the company adopted the name Sony Corporation. Originally an electronics company, Sony gained international recognition through products such as the TR-55 transistor radio and the CV-2000 home video tape recorder. The company subsequently became one of Japan's most prominent consumer-electronics manufacturers, with landmark products including the Trinitron color television and the Walkman and Discman portable audio players, while also played a major role in the development and commercialization of the CD, DVD and Blu-ray. Sony's flagship BRAVIA television lineup consistently earns industry 'King of TV' accolades for picture quality and color accuracy. Under its CineAlta brand, Sony is the largest manufacturer of professional video cameras for major feature film productions, while its Sony α series makes the company the second-largest camera manufacturer globally, behind Canon. Expanding beyond electronics, Sony acquired CBS Records in 1988 and Columbia Pictures Entertainment in 1989, marking major steps into the music and film industries, which established the company as one of the "Big Three" major record labels and one of the "Big Four" major Hollywood film studios. In 1994, the company entered the home video game console market with the launch of the PlayStation, establishing a core business that has sold over 650 million game consoles worldwide. Since 2021, Sony has operated Crunchyroll, the world's largest anime streaming platform. Sony is a global leader in image sensors, which are used in smartphones, cameras, automobiles, and other electronic devices. Its semiconductor business has become an important component of the group's operations, particularly through Sony Semiconductor Solutions. Sony also expanded into financial services in Japan, establishing its financial services business in 2001. In 2021, Sony adopted the name Sony Group Corporation as part of a transition to a holding-company structure, while its electronics business continued under the name Sony Corporation. Sony is publicly traded on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (a component of the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX Core30 indices) and also maintains American depositary receipts on the New York Stock Exchange, where it has been listed since 1961. For the 2025 fiscal year, Sony Group generated roughly ¥12.48 trillion JPY (approximately $83.4 billion USD) in total revenue. The largest share came from the Game & Network Services division, which brought in around ¥4.69 trillion JPY (approximately $31 billion USD) alone.