Just saw this article at Yahoo Finance:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Sony-plans-to-overhaul-rb-785605348.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=2&asset=&ccode=

TOKYO (Reuters) - Sony Corp will pull together plans this month to restructure its lossmaking television business and even consider teaming up with other firms, a senior executive said this week, days after the company cut its full-year net profit forecast.

The maker of Bravia TVs and PlayStation games consoles is heading for its eighth straight year of losses in the TV business, as it struggles to compete with lower cost Asian rivals such as Samsung Electronics, and warned last week that losses on TVs could widen this year.

Sony will review everything from development and production to sales in its TV division, a Sony spokeswoman quoted Chief Financial Officer Masaru Kato as saying in a newspaper interview with the Nikkei business daily.

The plans will be put into practice as soon as possible, Kato was quoted as saying.

Sony has already sold off TV factories in Spain, Slovakia and Mexico in the past few years and outsources much production to Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group.

Sony and Panasonic Corp have warned of weak TV sales, especially in the United States and Europe, following Philips and Corning Inc in highlighting sluggish demand.

Sony, once a symbol of Japan's high-tech might, is struggling to come up with hit devices and improve profit margins as it faces tough competition from Samsung and Apple Inc.

This year, Sony put off plans to raise investment in an LCD TV panel joint venture with Japan's Sharp, while last week a newspaper report said Sony was also considering pulling out of its joint TV panel venture with Samsung, although both companies denied the story.

Last week, Sony reduced its annual sales forecast for televisions to 22 million sets from 27 million, and also replaced the head of the section overseeing television manufacturing.

Masashi Imamura, who formerly headed the Personal Imaging division, which oversees the successful camera division, took over as head of the TV business on August 1.

Like rival Panasonic, whose TV division is also lossmaking, Sony says it will focus on profits rather than increasing unit sales.

Shares in Sony rose 0.7 percent to 1.973 yen on Tuesday, outperforming the broader Nikkei average.

Sony shares have fallen about 26 percent since April 1, crushed by the aftereffects of the devastating March earthquake and uncertainty over a series of massive hacking attacks on its networked businesses, which affected 100 million user accounts. The Nikkei is down only 1 percent in the same period.

(Reporting by Isabel Reynolds in Tokyo and Zeba Siddiqui in Bangalore; Editing by Anshuman Daga)

Hard to compete in the high end section when the low end offers just about the same features.... Samsung is really hurting the High end TV segment.

i wonder what they are gonna do? I still kind of don't understand why sony is losing money on the tv business. They may not be the number 1 or 2 seller but they are probably the 3rd or 4th highest seller of televisions. I have a panasonic, samsung, and a sony in my house and consider them the top 3 in the TV business. I guess if sony is not is 1st place they don't make money.

Yea, seen a similar article earlier today.

I think they should leave, and focus their efforts into online entertainment services and devices, but they won't. There's too much revenue at stake and too many jobs would be lost.

Revenue would be significantly lower if they left the TV industry, but profits would be up. I think Sony needs to scale down, get back closer towards its innovative/stylish ways.

There's still some 'zing' with Sony though - its new tablets are gorgeous.

where have those days gone when people wanted better things not cheaper things,economy is stopping tech from advancing

sony really needs to bring a man who has a vision and loves the company that will give it a direction


sony is slowly becoming a money aimed corporation rather innovation aimed corporation

I totally disagree.

In my eyes, Sony has been forcing innovation nobody wants or needs at the minute, damaging its financials. Look at 3D, internet TV, Blu-Ray. Sure, in years to come there might be rewards from these areas, but Sony certainly aren't playing it safe. You can't play safe as Sony.

I'd say Sony are more boring these days, but as I say there's hope - the S1 Tablet especially reminds me of an older Sony.

samsung all ends now

though its design and build quality still lack and its higher end is still cheaper than many companies

Well then... cheaper and better... even harder to compete against :p

One thing I used to read about sony was the quality of the black on screen (most tvs have grey not black)... it's the little details like this that cost $2000 more and make no one buy the bavarias....

yeah thats what i am saying

that first it used to bring a full-on experience(apple kind) and total new tech(hardware innovation)

now its trying to be safe and trying to be a money aimed company where they don't have a man with vision who they can depend on,and hence they are struggling

just look at how much they have changed since PS3 released

PS3 was a wrong bet at that stage against competitors but it did WOW us,today they just don't do that

I see where you are coming from, but I'd say Sony still 'wow' us more than most electronic firms today.

For being in dodgy economic times, PS Vita, their Augmented Reality tech, their OLED Displays, their new VAIO's, and their new tablets have certainly made an impression.

I think that taking into consideration the past 5 years Sony have had, they're doing ok on the innovation front. I just don't think we'll see the days again where they spend Billions and Billions on crazy new gear.