Sony Sells 50 Percent of it's TV Business to Samsung for 0 Million

Sony found a way out just before the New Year. It was a deal that had to be done, the sooner the better…

According to Times Live: “Sony Corp has agreed to sell its nearly 50 percent stake in an LCD joint venture with Samsung Electronics to the South Korean company for $940 million, as it struggles to reduce huge losses at its TV business.

The seven-year-old venture cut its capital by 15 percent in July and industry sources had said Sony was negotiating an exit, aiming to switch to cheaper outsourcing for flat screens for its TVs while Samsung pushes ahead with next-generation displays.

“In terms of direction it is a positive (for Sony),” said Keita Wakabayashi, an analyst at Mito Securities in Tokyo, about the deal. “But if they are making a loss on the sale, one could ask why they didn’t make this decision sooner.”

“Their biggest problem is that they are not making a profit even though they don’t have many plants,” he said.”

Article credited to Times Live