TOKYO, 6 Aug. (EUROPA PRESS) -
The board of directors of the Japanese electronics and leisure multinational Sony has unanimously rejected the proposal of its main shareholder, billionaire Daniel Loeb, to separate its entertainment business from the rest of the group's activities, according to the company in a statement.
Sony has sent a letter to Third Point, owned by Daniel Loeb, in which it stresses that both the board and management of the company believe "firmly" that continuing to own 100% of the entertainment business is "fundamental" to the success of the company.
The Japanese company believes that the IPO of a potential subsidiary is not "consistent" with the company's strategy of achieving sustained growth in profitability and shareholder value.
Among the reasons put forward by Sony in the letter is that the demand for content is increasing in value in a dynamic business environment characterized by emerging distribution platforms and the proliferation of powerful mobile devices and broadband access.
"Sony believes its entertainment business will increasingly benefit from these trends and the company's shareholders will benefit from owning all, not a part, of these valuable assets."
He also assures that the total control of this division promotes internal collaboration, facilitates synergies and allows the company to be "more agile". In his opinion, the opportunities for collaboration between businesses are "numerous and increasing", while their split would require other types of unnecessary relationships that would limit their control and strategic flexibility.
On the other hand, he adds that if the company needs capital, its priority will be to achieve it without selling assets fundamental to its growth strategy and without unnecessarily complicating its ability to execute the business plan of both its entertainment and electronic activities.
The Japanese multinational expects to start offering additional information about its entertainment business in the second quarter of its current fiscal year to help the market better analyze the behavior of this business.
