Ugh why I don't read anything from these guys anymore.

Saying MS is a major force in Europe (aside UK) is a big exageration.


This article is one of the worst I have ever seen.

Microsoft would do it if they had the opportunity. They tried to buy Nintendo before (when it was much less valuable).

That's why I think Sony won't be doing PS3 price cuts and moneyhats from now on. They don't want Sony's investors telling them to sell off SCE (or parts of it) due to it being a money drain, especially being part of company which is already having a hard time as it is.

Why don't they just acquire Nintendo's gaming division too and just be done with it?

MS just started doing search...ofcourse they are trailing google. Aquiring yahoo wuld have put them at 40% of the search market, then things would have gotten interesting so that was a well thought out purchase. But purchasing Sony is not...

What is Sony doing that they could use to cut in to Wii's marketshare? They would make it much easier for themselves to get the HD market but would still not compete with the Wii.

MS could also do with buying Google and other companies that are giving it trouble around its core business, and Apple would be handy too.

I mean, its not the analysis is flawed as such, its just that you could say that about any competitive company - hell, all Sony has to do is buy Nintendo and the job's done for this generation, right?

Or maybe Apple buys MS entertainment division and shuts down Zune, etc. and uses 360 to get into gaming...

What's missing, apart from a few too vague statements in my opinion, is any real reason for Sony to make such a sale, big losses or not at this stage in time, particularly given how crucial PS3 is right now for BR adoption.

Isn't CNet owned by Microsoft?

The difference is that Apple, Google and Nintendo are all far too expensive. They tried to buy Yahoo when it was worth more than half as much as Sony is, and we all know SCE is much less than half of Sony. It would be an affordable purchase for Microsoft.

@Noobie: They can? Is it on sale?

Well, acquiring SCE would definately put an end to all the problems M$ has with Sony trying to disrupt M$ with PS, but not going to happen.

The article was full of nonsense. Sounded like a joke to me.

So here are the numbers:

Nintendo is worth $67 billion.
Sony (as a whole) is worth around $40 billion.

And for reference:

Google - $148 billion
Microsoft - $239 billion

Microsoft probably has enough cash-on-hand to make a cash-only purchase of SCE... If they did a cash+stock purchase, they wouldn't have to break a sweat to buy it. Of course, they'd have to get regulatory approval, which shouldn't be a huge problem right now as Nintendo is owning both of them.

This is of course academic without the support of Sony's investors, which is probably one of the reasons why Sony is now very careful with their PS3 strategy. We don't need to assume something as dramatic as a Microsoft-buyout, their shareholders could simply force them to sell off some assets (some studios for example).