Stock keeps dropping on the Tokyo exchange. Has hit it's lowest point since the 90's for the fourth day in a row. I would say they are a prime takeover target but I don't know if there are any finance companies in Japan that have the financial might to pull it off.
There aren't. A buy out would have to come from the US. Even then, the premium would be massive given how large Sony is, the sum of Sony's parts is huge, even if that isn't currently reflected in the market cap. If an interested buyer came along, I would be surprised if they were able to buy Sony for less than $70bn, which is at least 3x what they are trading atm.
As soon as Sony spin off the TV division (I think it's coming) and bring all of the tax credits back onto the balance sheet the share price will go up. However, that is papering over the cracks, base profitability in their "good" divisions is very poor. That Sony, a formerly high end company, is aiming for a 5-7% net profit margin while Samsung, a mass market brand, brought in an 11% net profit margin last year shows just how poorly those "good" divisions are actually performing.
Kaz has taken over direct control of the TV division, but he hasn't gone far enough, he needs to also take control of the mobile devices unit which has underperformed relative to its peers (Apple, Samsung, HTC, LG) the only company worse off in that regard is Nokia. Sony's mobile strategy is still all over the place, the Xperia S, amazing design, uses last year's hardware and launched with last year's software. Xperia P, premium aluminium unibody construction and a new special type of LCD which really does have to be seen to be believed, uses this year's hardware, launching with last year's software at a mid range price so as not to compete with the S. What the fuck Sony, what the fuck. Why release a mid range phone with better features than the high end one!?!? What the hell kind of business model is that, the S should have an aluminium unibody and the WhiteMagic display as it would be able to justify the price premium. Right now, Sony's mid range phone is actually better than the top end one, the only area it loses out is in screen size and resolution, every other part of the P is stronger but it will sell for less money. Ridiculous.
Sony have also missed the boat with ultrabooks. That is a travesty as they have missed the opportunity to sell $500 hardware for $1200 under the guise of being an "ultrabook". What company intentionally misses an opportunity to do this? Ultrabooks are an area where Sony are getting their lunch eaten by Samsung once again, before they existed if one wanted to purchase a slick looking high end Wintel laptop Sony was first in the list. Now with ultrabooks, they are just one of a number of manufacturers who have slick looking laptops. By not competing in this market they lost market share in an area they still do well in. All they needed to do was slap something together, call it the UltraVaio and bring it to market for $1200, just having presence in the market would have been something.
Sony are a company which could be great, but the mismanagement has been terrible. I hope Kaz can turn it around, I really do.
