Didn't see you had posted this.

In fact you are wrong, the cutting of staff is a drastic emergency measure - that kind of thing doesn't happen unless the company is in serious trouble. The end result is either a healthy company albeit much smaller and worth much less than it was, or a company that still can't compete even on it's core business and becomes a shell of the conglomerate it once was.

There's no genuine talking of Sony going tits up, but their actual company could shrink to less than half it's current size. That's permanent, and would take 10s of years to rectify.

I don't think you understand the gravity of all this credit rating stuff, and the cutting of 10,000 staff. The 10,000 staff will be only the beginning. Not a chance that alone will bring sony back. They need to get rid of numerous divisions that aren't making a profit. They are nowhere near this, all you hear is spin  from the likes of Kaz, he's full of shit. Howard Stringer might have come across as a fat buffoon, but Kaz is japanese and loyal - NOT what Sony needs right now, it needs new thinking.

Cameras bit is complete fabrication. Their compacts don't comepte at all, if they even have any. Their Micro Four Thirds use a proprietory standard and although are of high quality, are very expensive and not very popular. They don't have any DSLR either that is respected, it's just Micro Four Thirds basically. (I'm into photography).

Xperia being 2nd best selling phone in Japan is nice but that's one country, albeit an important one.

VAIO doesn't make money.

if you sony fans want sony to survive don't ask them for a super gaming console like vita or ps3, that way is the way they get to this massive down, ps4 need to be a massmarket product not like vita and ps3. (remember ps1 and ps2??).

if this happens, many people's heads will just explode ;)

That would be quite the sight!

I want to buy stock but it keeps getting worth less and less so I keep holding out. If they theoretically got bought out by a better company, would I be reimbursed with stock for the better company or would I just be paid off?

crikey how much do they want me to spend on PSN & SOE,looks like we're doomed

Generally it depends.  In some cases, those who own stock in the company may be compensated, with shares in the new company.  If they merge.  If it's a buyout, however you may get nothing. 

I had stock in a company and when the company was sold didn't get any benefit from the sale.  i.e. my shares didn't convert.

Sony really needs to reel back on its TV business since that's the division that has been hemorrhaging ridiculous amounts of money every year. It has been doing much better than it has in the past, but the company can recover more quickly if it doesn't invest so much on televisions.

They have been doing just that. Even last CES they only showed 7 models compared to something like 20 the year before. They've also decided against making TV one of their cores.