Sony Group Corp

Early years and founding

Sony's story began in the wake of World War II in 1946, when Masaru Ibuka, a former engineer who had served on the japanese Imperial Navy's Wartime Research Committee, founded the Tokyo Tsushin Kenkyujo (Tokyo Telecommunications Research Institute), an electronics workshop in a department store building in the Nihonbashi area of Tokyo, where he repaired and modified small radios. Later, the fellow engineer Akio Morita, who had worked with Ibuka during the war but had lost contact with him, learned about his business through an article in the Asahi Shimbun. After reuniting, the two founded Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K. (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation). In its early years, TTK had capital of ¥190,000, with financial support from Morita's family. Not long afterward, the company launched the Type-G, Japan's first tape recorder.

The Sony brand and name change

Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo founders Morita and Ibuka realized that to achieve success and grow, their business had to expand to the global market, which required labeling their products with a short and easy brand name. While looking for a romanized name, they at first strongly considered using their initials, TTK. The primary reason they did not was that the railway company Tokyo Kyuko was known as TTK. The company occasionally used the syllabic acronym "Totsuko" in Japan, but during his visit to the United States, Morita discovered that Americans had trouble pronouncing that name. Another early name that was tried out for a while was "Tokyo Teletech" until Akio Morita discovered that there was an American company already using Teletech as a brand name.

The name "Sony" was chosen for the brand as a mix of two words: one was the Latin word " sonus ", which is the root of sonic and sound, and the other was " sonny ", a common slang term used in 1950s America to call a young boy. In 1950s Japan, "sonny boys" were a loan word in Japanese, which connoted smart and presentable young men, which Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka considered themselves to be.

In 1955, TTK launched its first product under the "Sony" brand, the TR-55 transistor radio. Later, in 1958, TTK oficcially chnaged its corporate name to Sony K.K (Sony Corporation).

At the time of the change, it was unusual for a Japanese company to use Roman letters to spell its name instead of writing it in kanji. The move was not without opposition: TTK's principal bank at the time, Mitsui, had strong feelings about the name. They pushed for a name such as Sony Electronic Industries, or Sony Teletech. Akio Morita was firm, however, as he did not want the company name tied to any particular industry. Eventually, both Ibuka and the chairman of Mitsui Bank gave their approval.

Globalization and expansion

1950s–2000s

According to Schiffer, Sony's TR-63 radio "cracked open the U.S. market and launched the new industry of consumer microelectronics." By the mid-1950s, American teens had begun buying portable transistor radios in huge numbers, helping to propel the fledgling industry from an estimated 100,000 units in 1955 to 5 million units by the end of 1968.

Sony co-founder Akio Morita founded Sony Corporation of America in 1960. In the process, he was struck by the mobility of employees between American companies, which was unheard of in Japan at that time. When he returned to Japan, he encouraged experienced, middle-aged employees of other companies to consider joining Sony. The company filled many positions in this manner, and inspired other Japanese companies to do the same. Moreover, Sony played a major role in the development of Japan as a powerful exporter during the next decades, supplying the U.S. Military with bomb parts used in the Vietnam War. It also helped to significantly improve American perceptions of "made in Japan" products. Known for its production quality, Sony was able to charge above-market prices for its consumer electronics and resisted lowering prices. In 1968, Sony and CBS partnered to establish the CBS/Sony Records in Japan, marking its entry in the music industry.

In 1971, Masaru Ibuka handed the presidency over to his co-founder Akio Morita. During his tenure, Sony partnered with Prudential to establish a life insurance and financial services company, Sony Prudential Life Insurance. Amid a global recession in the early 1980s, electronics sales dropped and the company was forced to cut prices, driving its profits down and raising questions about the its ability to innovate.

After Morita, Norio Ohga became president in 1982. A former opera singer and Sony executive, Ohga played an important role in expanding the company beyond consumer electronics and into media and entertainment. He was closely involved in the development and adoption of the Compact Disc, which Sony developed jointly with Philips during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1988, Sony acquired CBS Records, expanding its presence in the global music industry, and in 1989 it acquired Columbia Pictures, marking a major expansion into film and television. Ohga also supported the development of the PlayStation, which was released in 1994 and marked Sony's entry into the video game industry. Ohga succeeded Morita as chief executive officer in 1989 and remained chairman and CEO during much of Sony's expansion into entertainment.

In 1995, Nobuyuki Idei became president and began a series of reforms aimed at transforming Sony for the emerging digital and networked economy. His strategy emphasized the convergence of electronics, entertainment, games, Internet and communications services, and financial services. Sony sought to connect its hardware and content businesses through broadband networks and digital technology, while giving its individual business units greater autonomy. During Idei's tenure, Sony strengthened its position in mobile communications through the establishment of Sony Ericsson in 2001, expanded its semiconductor and digital imaging businesses, and developed network-based services and online entertainment. The company also continued expanding its game business, with the PlayStation 2 becoming one of the most successful video game consoles of its generation. However, the company's broad diversification and emphasis on convergence did not initially produce the expected results, as Sony struggled with declining profitability in several electronics businesses and increasing competition in digital consumer products.

Under the vision of co-founder Akio Morita and his successors, the company had aggressively expanded into new businesses. Part of its motivation for doing so was the pursuit of "convergence", linking film, music and digital electronics via the Internet. At the time, this expansion was unrewarding and unprofitable, threatening Sony's ability to charge a premium on its products as well as its brand name. In 2005, Howard Stringer replaced Nobuyuki Idei as chief executive officer, marking the first time that a foreigner had run a major Japanese electronics firm. Stringer helped to reinvigorate the company's struggling media businesses, encouraging blockbusters such as Spider-Man while cutting 9,000 jobs. He hoped to sell off peripheral business and focus the company again on electronics. Furthermore, he aimed to increase cooperation between business units, which he described as "silos" operating in isolation from one another. In a bid to provide a unified brand for its global operations, Sony introduced a slogan known as "make.believe" in 2009. Despite some successes, the company faced continued struggles in the mid-to-late 2000s.

2010s

In 2012, Kazuo Hirai was promoted to president and CEO, replacing Stringer. Shortly thereafter, Hirai outlined his company-wide initiative, named "One Sony" to revive Sony from years of financial losses and bureaucratic management structure, which proved difficult for former CEO Stringer to accomplish, partly due to differences in business culture and native languages between Stringer and some of Sony's Japanese divisions and subsidiaries. Hirai outlined three major areas of focus for Sony's electronics business, which include imaging technology, gaming and mobile technology, as well as a focus on reducing the major losses from the television business.

In February 2014, Sony announced the sale of its Vaio PC division to a new corporation owned by investment fund Japan Industrial Partners and spinning its TV division into its own corporation as to make it more nimble to turn the unit around from past losses totaling $7.8 billion over a decade. Later that month, it announced that it would be closing 20 stores. In April, the company announced that it would be selling 9.5 million shares in Square Enix (roughly 8.2 percent of the game company's total shares) in a deal worth approximately $48 million. In May 2014 the company announced it was forming two joint ventures with Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group to manufacture and market Sony's PlayStation game consoles and associated software in China. The same year, it closed 20 US retail locations.

In late 2014, Sony Pictures became the target of a hack attack from a clandestine group called Guardians of Peace, weeks before releasing the anti-North Korean comedy film The Interview.

In 2015, Sony purchased Toshiba's image sensor business.

In 2017, Sony sold its lithium-ion battery business to Murata Manufacturing. That same year, the company closed its iconic Sony Building in Tokyo's Ginza district to begin a multi-phase site redevelopment.

In 2019, Sony merged its mobile, TV and camera businesses.

2020s

On 1 April 2020, Sony Electronics Corporation was established as an intermediate holding company to own and oversee its electronics and IT solutions businesses.

On 19 May 2020, the company announced that it would change its name to Sony Group Corporation as of 1 April 2021. Subsequently, Sony Electronics Corporation would be renamed to Sony Corporation. On the same day the company announced that it would turn Sony Financial Holdings (currently Sony Financial Group), of which Sony already owns 65.06% of shares, to a wholly owned subsidiary through a takeover bid.

On 1 April 2021, Sony Corporation was renamed Sony Group Corporation. On the same day, Sony Mobile Communications Inc. absorbed Sony Electronics Corporation, Sony Imaging Products & Solutions Inc., and Sony Home Entertainment & Sound Products Inc. and changed its trade name to Sony Corporation.

In April 2021, PlayStation Studios closed its Japan Studio, absorbing its remaining development teams and resources into Team Asobi.

In 2024, Sony closed several of its PlayStation Studios developers, shutting down London Studio in May as part of broader company-wide layoffs, followed by the closures of mobile developer Neon Koi and Firewalk Studios in October.

In January 2025, Sony celebrated the grand opening of the newly constructed Ginza Sony Park in Tokyo's Ginza district, replacing the former historic Sony Building with an open urban park structure.

In February 2026, Sony announced the closure of PlayStation Studios subsidiary Bluepoint Games and in March shut down Dark Outlaw Games.

In March 2026, Sony and Chinese electronics manufacturer TCL Electronics signed agreements to form a strategic joint venture for the home entertainment business, covering consumer televisions, professional displays, and home audio systems. Under this agreement, Chinese firm TCL holds a 51% controlling stake to handle global development, manufacturing, and distribution, while Sony retains 49% and provides brand licensing and core technologies.

In July 2026, Sony sparked widespread public backlash and community protests after announcing plans to phase out physical media disc production for PlayStation consoles starting from January 2028, fueling intense debates over game preservation and digital ownership rights.