Sony has announced that it will establish a joint venture with China’s TCL and transfer its television and other consumer electronics businesses to that entity, as well as discontinue production of Blu-ray recorders. In effect, this signals that Sony is finally withdrawing from its founding consumer electronics business, while retaining the brand name.
Today, the electronics segment accounts for less than 20% of Sony Group’s total revenue, excluding semiconductor components. The company has transformed into what could be described as a comprehensive entertainment conglomerate, centered on games, films, music, and other content businesses. From this perspective, the decision to step back from the consumer electronics business may even be considered overdue.
In fact, for quite some time now, visits to major electronics retailers in the United States have revealed that Japanese brands, once epitomized by Sony, have been steadily losing their presence amid strong competition from South Korean and Chinese manufacturers. According to the “Brand Finance Global 500 2025” ranking, which evaluates the brand value of global corporations across industries, Apple ranks first, South Korea’s Samsung sixth, and Toyota is the highest-ranked Japanese company at 18th place. Sony, notably, stands at 135th.
While it was foreseeable that such a day would eventually come, the times continue to change at an accelerating pace. At our company, we remain committed to upholding the enduring values of Japan and will continue sharing them with the world.