that is theorically true... though some serious BS has been going on on the market since the mid 90's.... a lot of companies have been or are over stated or even under stated... largely due to more and more regular joe bidding from home with no other clue than trends... humongous idiocity published in magazine like forbes... easier acces like e-trade, scott trade etc and thinking the stoke market is a huge international las vegas casino.... the alpha of some companies are completely out of sync with their stock value.... 

now about sony id on't know enough about the jap culture/gov but they could theorreticaly "bail" them out or help them out to.... it is a big piece of the jap industry... that works with a lot of other partners... if they go down the jap electronic sector would be hurt more than just sony... I'm a big anti sony guy... but i don't wish them to desappear....  competition is good for all of us  customers.. 

Typically, the impact of people "playing the stockmarket" is a net neutral effect, except to exaggerate the trends. So rather than dropping 5% in stock price, it might drop 15%.

As for Sony remaining "in existence", it will happen, to some degree. If it turns out that Sony as a whole is simply not working, it'll get split up before collapsing completely. SCE will likely become its own entity (likely called something like Playstation Ltd), should this happen - note that SCE has been relatively stable for Sony, compared with, for instance, their TV division. Whether the resulting company remains in the hardware business, or becomes software-only, is uncertain.

Personally, I'd have no problem with Sony disappearing from the console hardware space. Not because it would remove competition, but because it would enable competent competition. Sony's departure would likely result in Microsoft's absorption of the Xbox brand into the PC field (probably resulting in a line of "Xbox PCs"), and Nintendo would, for a short time, be alone in the console space... but there would relatively quickly be new competition appearing on the scene, probably from one of the other bigger companies - I'd guess EA or Valve. I'd rather a dedicated gaming company be Nintendo's hardware competition, over Sony (general entertainment company) or MS (computer company). The sort of competition that this would produce would be far more beneficial to gaming.

EDIT: I'd suggest Sega returning to the console race, but sadly, they are no longer in a position to manage it. Sega will remain a third-party publisher only.

Microsoft trying its hand in the PC-gaming market; now there's a thought.

If valve ever released a steam console... I mean, that might actually be successful if they could get retailers to go along with it (I am guessing they would have to sell marked up accessories, "game cards", and "exclusive in store DLC" along with merchandise.

back on subject: I am surprised that these fears haven't been exacerbated earlier though. All the signs point to tragedy: the rise of digital content, voracious competition, and several missteps which date back all the way to before even the launch of the ps3.

I suppose it depends on your definition of saved, because in many ways this company has already expired. I guess it has gone largely unnoticed on these forums, but what is happening with Sony right now isn't restructuring. That has been what happened for the past half decade. The extraneous fat has been fairly well excised. What you have now is a triage situation. Sony is literally just cutting parts off to stem the necrosis. What comes out the other side will be Sony in name only, and that is if it comes out the other side at all. I know some want to think melodrama. You know what do yourself the favor of looking into it yourself.

Xbox Live is a serious advantage that Microsoft has over Nintendo and Sony. It is a ridiculous cash cow, bringing in over a billion dollars a year in revenue (with a VERY HIGH profit margin).