Now thats not encouraging for a company of their scale...

What is the yield percentage Sony? I really can't believe they would try zero coupon and what good is convertible if an investor doesn't foresee a recovery in the stock price.

Does this mean Sony has little faith in its restructuring? To be honest I think Sony can bounce back, but it is going to take some serious time and a lot of tough decisions need to be made. I was hoping for Sony to announce some high yield bonds to raise some capital.

Now is really the best time to invest in Sony corporate bonds. Much safer than buying their bonds and with a better possible Return on investment at this point.

So, is this a step in the right direction for Sony? Or Worse?

Wow, just $9.84 now, market cap: $9.88B, first time I seen it this low...

if you want to have 100% share ... 51% is enough so $5bn ... so ms could easily afford it, but I dont think that will happen.
wasnt $5bn what ms had in profits for the last quarter ?

5.3 bn in the past 3 months. next 3 months will be way better due to important releases.

My personal, non-expert opinion is yes and no. 

Sony is still digging a hole, but at least they're starting to dig up, rather than down.  The problem is, it sounds as if it'll be a slow process and in the short term it may be worse.  If they can survive the short-term challenges, and depending on the impact what Kaz is doing, they may slowly come back. 

But Sony really is relying on a global economic recovery.

so if the trend continues ms could buy 100% of sony with the profits they are going to make in the next 3 months ?

I couldn't agree more. And they probably need to be smaller. See, one needs to consider the variation in companies as well.

Consider, if you will, the Western vs. the Eastern company.

Western companies (and now certain Eastern ones) seem to have a good idea that mobility is the key to survival in the world of business. When something starts to shift, they are quick to try and take advantage of it while also speedy in stemming the blood flow of the wounded parts of their own corporation. They raise and shut wings with impunity, for the best of the company.

(Mostly older) Eastern companies are monolithic in nature. They are massive, monstrous structures. At one point, Sony, Panasonic and Sharp were the eidolons. They were the ideal of what makes for success. Truly amazing companies back until the 2000s, when they all started dropping. When Sony started losing money on their TV division, they doubled down to tough it out. This is why that division hasn't been in the black for eight years. A western company would have downsized the crap out of it and, if it didn't make money, would have liquidated it and moved on. Sony couldn't do that because it has its tradition in televisions. They wanted it to succeed, but have been slogging hard for years to get it back to simple profitability. They aren't the drop and run types, basically.

Basically, what people are seeing here is Sony in the pains of trying to shed its skin through Kaz. Looking at Sharp and Panasonic, this is not an easy change, but Sony needs to shift its behemoth nature to something closer to modern needs if it's trying to survive. As such, you see the titans of Japanese business basically on the ropes and trying to shift enough to stick it out. Sharp probably won't survive. Panasonic might, but that's a big if. Sony...hard to tell either way right now.

Basically, we're in the middle of watching a truly bizarre shift of corporate nature. A historic shift, perhaps.

Keep in mind... in a takeover you have to offer more then the current share price by quite a bit usually.   Not to mention Sony would likely insitute a "poison pill" option.