Sony Merger

Sony Merger

A great deal of companies and corporations, whether diminutive or immense, merge to become one company. Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling and combining of different companies that can aid, finance, or help a growing company in a given industry grow rapidly without having to create another business entity. For instance, the Merger between Sony and MGM in 2005, Sony even took the debt from MGM. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the following: company history on both companies, the merger, price paid, debt, movies, contract, stock price, benefits, lawsuits, communication and money conversion.

Sony history

Sony Company is a Japanese multinational corporation and one of the world’s largest media conglomerated with revenue of $66.39 billion (as of 2006) based in Minato, Tokyo. Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics, video, communication, video games and information technology products for the consumer and professional market. Sony Corporation is the electronic business unit and the parent company of the Sony Group, which is engaged in business through five operating segments. Sony’s principal business operations include Sony Corporation (Sony Electronics in the US), Somy Pictures Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Sony Financial Holdings. Sony being a semiconductor maker, Sony is among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders. The slogan is “Sony. Like no other”.

In 1945, after World War II, Masaru Ibuka started a radio repair shop in a bombed-out building in Tokyo. His colleague Akio Morita joined him the next year, and they founded a company called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K., its English translation is Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation. The company built Japan’s first tape recorder called the Type-G. When Kogyo was looking for a Romanized name to use to market themselves, they strongly considered using their initials, TTK. The main reason they did not chose this is that the railway company was known as TTK. The company used the acronym “Totsuko” in Japan, but it was discovered that the Americans had troubles announcing that name. Another name that was tried out for a while was “Tokyo Teletech” but than again, they found out that there already was an American company with the brand name of Teletech. The name “Sony” was chosen for the brand as a mix of the Latin word sonus, which is the root of sonic and sound, the English word “sunny”, and from the word Sonny-boys, which is Japanese slang for “whiz kids”. However, “Sonny” was thought to sound too much like the Japanese soh-nee which means business goes bad. They stuck with the name Sony.

MGM History

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc., or MGM, is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. From the end of the silent film era through World War II, MGM was the most prominent motion picture studio in Hollywood, with the greatest output of all of the studios: at its height, it released an average of one feature film a week, along with many short subjects and serials. In 1924, Marcus Loew had a problem, he bought Metro Pictures (founded in 1916) and Goldwyn Pictures (founded in 1917) to provide a steady sup[ply of films for his large theater chain, Loews Inc. However, these purchase created a need fro someone to over see his new Hollywood operations. Loew addresses the situation by purchasing Mayer Pictures on April 16, 1924. Because of his success as a producer, Louis B. Mayer was made a vice-president of Loews and head of studio operations in California, with Harry Rapf and twenty-five year old “boy wonder” Irving Thalberg as heads of production. For decades, MGM’s legal name was “Loews Inc.” Originally, the new studio’s films were presented in the following manner: Louis B. Mayer presents a Metro-Goldwyn picture, but Mayer soon added his name to the studio. Though Loew’s Metro was the dominant partner, the new studio inherited Goldwyn’s studio, the former Goldwyn mascot Leo the Lion , replaced Metro’s parrot symbol and the corporate motto Ars Gratia Artis wich means “Art for Art Sake”.

With these two companies both having their downfalls and great times, they both have accomplished so much over the years. However, MGM was up for sale. There were two different bids from two of the companies, which one of them was Time Warner and the other one was Sony.

Merger

On April 8, 2005, the company was acquired by a partnership led by Sony Corporation of America and Comcast in association with Texas Pacific Group and Providence Equity Partners. Sony pictures