Hell MS can buy Sony if its only worth $12 billion.

You get your entertainment hub for Xbox with Sony music and movies and win the console war in one shot. Scrub the rest/sell them off piece by piece. A man can dream.

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.

Japanese companies work more like an oldschool fuedel country, each independent trying to win or lose influence to control "Tokyo" as it would.

This is also problematic just in that it greatly hurts company synergy since each branch is seen more as a competitor to be heir then an ally.  They will cooperate but only if both sides get something out of the deal.  One branch is unlikely to sacrifice for another branch.

Exactly. This is why I compare them to a monolithic structure. This has already shown that it's not going to be easy for them and it's a matter of seeing in what shape they manage to survive the change. This is a pretty extreme shift, because Kaz is going to have to take control of everything. He's going to need to be the CEO who conquers the fiefdoms for the recreation of the whole.

At the same time, the creators of Sony were all about independence and creativity. I imagine the engineers are going to see this as a betrayal, but one needs to do what they can to shift to a new method of structure and profitability. I don't envy the poor bastard at all.

Oh yeah forgot that :(
But AMD also isnt doing well right now ... there are rumors for AMD to be sold ... maybe that would be a better investment for ms

But buying shares for sony right now would be not a wise idea and the chances that you will make profit in the near future is slim.