索尼（Sony）日前公布了截止于6月30日的最新一季财报，当季净收入为35亿日圆(3,500万美元)，而先前一季则是亏损246亿日圆；同时该公司最新一季营业利润为367亿日圆(3.6968亿美元)，超越了分析师先前预测的253亿日圆。
且先不必粉饰太平，Sony看似亮眼的财报结果主要是因为日圆走弱；而该公司本季 Xperia 系列智能手机与影像传感器销售成长，也对该财报结果贡献不少。总计Sony这一季营收成长了13%，达到173亿美元。所以，Sony已经从泥淖中脱身了吗？恐怕没有。
索尼被分析师指：赢了财报，输了市场
sZTesmc
Sony是否会一分为二，以恢复往日荣光？不确定。
在Sony的财报发布记者会上，该公司首席财务官加藤优(Masaru Kato)表示：“我们虽达成了差强人意的(第一季)财报结果，但我并不肯定未来绝对乐观。”这种不确定性让Sony仍然衰弱，也促使激进派股东 Daniel Loeb 提案将Sony拆分为两家公司。
Loeb 的投资机构Third Point提案建议Sony将赚钱的娱乐业务──电影、电视与音乐──的至少五分之一独立，使其营运更透明化、可承担会计责任。而Sony的董事会是在一个月之前接到Loeb的提案，当时该公司首席执行官平井一夫(Kazuo Hirai)表示将审慎考虑。
但 Sony首席财务官加藤日前表示，公司董事会还在讨论Third Point的提案，包括从外部聘请财务顾问──说句不客气的话，这种提案真的需要考虑这么久吗？也许我漏了些什么，请告诉我为何将Sony一分为二是个好主意？我实在不了解这将如何有助于让Sony电子业务复苏。
针对我对Sony拆分提案的疑问，科技顾问机构Envisioneering Group分析师Richard Doherty指出：“Loeb的野心以及他的既定目标其实是两回事；”他猜测，这位激进派股东：“是在利用Sony消费性电子业务(的弱点)，来为他自己的投资机构寻求获利。”
Doherty进一步表示：“我不认为任何一个娱乐产业分析师能发现其中的逻辑。”
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
本文下一页：能拯救Sony的不是哪种热门商品，而是它积累的平台
相关阅读：
• 1H13半导体厂商Top 20，无晶圆和代工厂涨势凶猛
• 每日一报7月30日：索尼松下开发下一代光盘，容量达蓝光6倍
• 当电子业务成为索尼的拖累……sZTesmc
{pagination}
一直以来，我都认为将某个事业多角化经营是件好事，因为鸡蛋最好不要放在同一个篮子里。但如果我们相信Third Point的立场，Sony同时在一个屋檐下拥有软件与硬件业务的策略忽然就变得不合时宜──因为所有一切都得打上“会计责任”的名号。
当然，Sony并不是唯一同时拥有娱乐与硬件业务的公司；Panasonic曾经在1990年收购环球影业(Universal Studios)的母公司MCA (Music Corporation of America)，后来又于1995年将之售予Seagram。
Seagram的负责人Edgar Bronfman Jr.藉由环球影业与MCA进军电影娱乐市场，可惜仅维持了一段很短的时间。收购娱乐事业是一回事，如何有效率地经营──特别是还伴随着其它像是硬件的业务──又是另一回事；说比做总是容易得多。
在这方面，Sony在电影/娱乐业务坚持了足够久的时间，不但学习到生意诀窍也与娱乐产业建立的稳固的关系，是值得敬佩的。Doherty指出：“Samsung与LG也能藉由各种营销砸钱进军娱乐产业，但他们还是比Sony落后了十年。”
Doherty已经观察Sony很长一段时间，看到了Sony“与娱乐事业沟通、与观众沟通”之能力所带来的内在价值，因此他认为这将有助于该公司建立“产生新营收来源的新平台。”当然，Doherty所言之Sony“价值”，是一种看不见的东西。
让我们面对现实：能拯救Sony的不是单一种、甚至两种热门商品。
如Doherty所说，它得是一种“可建立观众群与新收入来源”的新平台或是新的业务模式──例如音乐卡带、CD、DVD等过去综合其软硬件业务所推出的产品：“Sony知道如何开发观众模型，人们仍在看该公司如何取得成功。”
对Doherty来说，这正是Sony所拥有的“魔法”，而将该公司拆分成两半，将会毁掉那样的能力──你可以说我耳根子软，但我同意他的看法！
本文授权编译自EE Times，版权所有，谢绝转载
编译：Judith Cheng
参考英文原文：Splitting Sony Won't Restore Its Future，by Junko Yoshida
相关阅读：
• 1H13半导体厂商Top 20，无晶圆和代工厂涨势凶猛
• 每日一报7月30日：索尼松下开发下一代光盘，容量达蓝光6倍
• 当电子业务成为索尼的拖累……sZTesmc
{pagination}
Splitting Sony Won't Restore Its Future
Junko Yoshida, Chief International Correspondent
a year earlier. Sony also reported an operating profit of 36.7 billion yen ($369.68 million), beating the 25.3 billion yen profit expected by financial analysts.
Let's not sugarcoat this. The company's results were boosted mostly by a weaker yen.
The increased sales of Sony's Xperia smartphones and image sensors, however, also contributed to the results. Sony's revenue increased 13 percent, to $17.3 billion.
So, is Sony out of the woods? Hardly.
Will splitting Sony into two restore the future of Sony? I am not sure.
During the company's press conference, Sony's chief financial officer, Masaru Kato, reportedly said: "We were able to achieve adequate (first-quarter) results but I'm not necessarily optimistic about the future."
That uncertainty is keeping Sony vulnerable, giving an opening for activist shareholder Daniel Loeb to press his proposal to split Sony in two.
Loeb's Third Point hedge fund wants Sony to spin off as much as a fifth of its money-making entertainment business operation -- movies, TV, and music -- in order to make it more transparent and accountable.
Sony's board has been entertaining Loeb's proposal for over a month now. Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai told shareholders last month the company's board would carefully consider Third Point's suggestions. CFO Kato on Thursday, August 1, said the board was continuing to discuss the fund's suggestions, including input from outside financial advisers.
With all that politeness aside, here's the thing: Is this a proposal Sony really needs to entertain for so long?
I may be missing something here, but help me understand why splitting Sony in two is a good idea. I don't understand how this would ever help restore Sony's electronics business.
When I asked the why-split-Sony question, Richard Doherty, director of technology consulting firm Envisioneering Group, made it very clear: "Mr. Loeb's ambition and his stated goal are two different things." He speculated that the activist may be "using the [weakness of the] CE business" to find gains for his hedge fund.
"Talk to any entertainment industry analysts. I don't think anyone can find logic in this," said Doherty.
Business diversification
For a long time, I've believed that diversifying one's business is a good thing. You hedge the bets by not putting all eggs in one basket.
But if we are to believe Third Point's position, Sony's strategy of having software and hardware businesses under one roof is suddenly falling out of fashion -- all in the name of "accountability."
Of course, Sony wasn't alone to harbor the dream of owning both entertainment and hardware businesses. Panasonic was the owner of Universal Studios, then known as the Music Corporation of America, since acquiring the company in 1990 but sold it to Seagram in 1995.
Seagram's head, Edgar Bronfman Jr., then, got in film entertainment through MCA and Universal Pictures. However, the new entertainment conglomerate he created had a brief life.
Acquiring an entertainment business is one thing. Running it effectively -- especially alongside some other business like hardware -- is entirely another. It's easier said than done.
In that respect, Sony deserves a lot of credit for having stuck it out with its movie/entertainment business long enough to learn the trade and build a solid relationship with the entertainment industry.
"Samsung and LG could buy their way into the entertainment industry" by making various marketing deals, said Doherty. "But they are still a decade behind Sony."
Doherty, who is taking a long view on Sony, sees the intrinsic value in Sony's ability to "communicate with the entertainment business and communicate with its audience." He believes that it will in the end help Sony build "a new platform that will generate new revenue streams."
Of course, what's described by Doherty as Sony's value is something intangible.
But let's face it: What will save Sony isn't a single hit product, not even two hit products.
It has to come from a new platform or a new business model that "builds audience and creates new revenue streams" -- just like what audio cassette tapes, CDs, and DVDs have done so for both hardware and software businesses," explained Doherty. "Sony knows how to develop audience models. People are still looking to Sony to pull this off."
To Doherty, that's the magic of Sony. Splitting the company in two is a sure way to kill that magic. Well, call me a softy. I agree with Doherty on this one.
责编：Quentin
扫码分享到好友
