Sony Corporation (ソニー株式会社 Sonī Kabushiki Gaisha?) (TYO: 6758, NYSE: SNE),
commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation
headquartered in Kōnan, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It ranked 73 on the 2011 list of Fortune Global
500. Sony is one of the leading manufacturers of electronics products for the consumer and
professional markets.
Sony Corporation is the electronics business unit and the parent company of the Sony Group,
which is engaged in business through its six operating segments – Consumer Products &
Services Group (consumer electronics, game & network services), Professional, Device &
Solutions Group (B2B products & services), Pictures, Music, Financial Services and Sony
Ericsson. These make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the
world. Sony's principal business operations include Sony Corporation (Sony Electronics in the
U.S.), Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment,
Sony Mobile Communications (formerly Sony Ericsson), and Sony Financial. As a semiconductor
maker, Sony is among the Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders.
The Sony Group (ソニー・グループ Sonī Gurūpu?) is a Japan-based corporate group primarily
focused on the Electronics (such as AV/IT products & components), Game (such as PlayStation),
Entertainment (such as motion pictures and music), and Financial Services (such as insurance
and banking) sectors. The group consists of Sony Corporation (holding & electronics), Sony
Computer Entertainment (game), Sony Pictures Entertainment (motion pictures), Sony Music
Entertainment (music), Sony Financial Holdings (financial services) and others.
Its founders Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka derived the name from sonus, the Latin word for
sound, and also from the English slang word "sonny", since they considered themselves to be
"sonny boys", a loan word into Japanese which in the early 1950s connoted smart and
presentable young men.