Analysis: Is Sony buying time - or problems?

[Chark]

kowenicki said:

Chark said:
Sounds like Reuters posted that for the hits. Not a single one of those purchases were a bad move and if they can continue leveraging the right decisions now the company will be in a far better place down the road. The main issue is restructuring their waning sectors and selling off the terrible ones. TV is seeing a lot of changes, shrinkage mainly, and we have yet to see what kind of results those decisions will have on Sony's finances. Among that instilling cooperation between sectors, merging platforms together, and cutting the fat through lay offs and restructuring, Sony is having a dramatic change. People must remember that very little time has gone by since Kaz became CEO and results don't come until after the fact.

lol.

Reuters posting for hits?  Reuters?  Get a grip.

I thought the Gaikai purchase seemed like a panic buy and in line with how SCE has operated before just buying things up rather than hiring the talent.  The Medical move makes sense to me as a step in the right direction and an intelligent move (despite the lack of revenue it will bring). 

I'm not sure how you can make such a defininitive statement (bolded) and the second half of that sentence doesnt actually mean anything.  Its just words and the kind of empty stuff I hear in meetings all the time. 

You are right though, Kaz has only been in the top job for a short while.  But he doesnt have a that long to sort it. 

The company does not operate in its own bubble and spending money makes the lenders and investors nervous given the Sony situation.  The recent rating reductions are serious and impact the bottom line quite heavily as time passes and can hamper expansion and innovation.   If you burn through your cash then where do you get the cash to grow and for R&D? you borrow it.   Sony have been heavy borrowers in the last 20 years.  Borrowing becomes expensive when your debt is rated one point above junk.

You don't think the Gaikai was a good purchase? The patents alone were worth the asking price. On top of that they did get the talent that worked there, the name, and the technology fits in very well with the direction that gaming and consoles will be going in let alone the range of devices and services they provide.

The bolded is exactly what it means, they have made several good purchases of late: aquiring a majoirty in Olympus, buying to 1st place in the music industry, aquiring Gaikai and its capabilities. All good moves. I'm not saying it would be a good thing to keep buying stuff up. Good oportunities aren't there every other month but the ones they've managed so far are good and if similar deals appear they could still pick some up, depending on cost of course. Sony is moving in the right direction, the last few years the company was just stagnating, business as usual while the TV indusrty slipped through their fingers. Now their projects long in the works are starting to hit the market and I would like to point out PS Mobile, probably their best integrated software platform move they have made. A little late to the party but it is already in a better position than Windows. Sony is making a lot of changes which is something they haven't done in a while.

I agree the credit rating is terrible for them right now and the more they spend now, the more they need to borrow later, but they can still get access to the funding and with the restructuring they might have more money to leverage. The worst decision would to have not done anything, not aquired future streams of revenue or methods to create cutting edge technology in their respective industries.