Sony shares rise after Reuters reports its stake in Third Point again By Reuters

By Makiko Yamazaki

TOKYO (Reuters) – Shares of Sony Corp. (T 🙂 climbed more than 7% on Tuesday after Reuters reported that Third Point LLC was once again raising its stake in the Japanese conglomerate, speculating on the As a result, Daniel Loeb, the owner of the fund, was preparing to push for more changes. .

Third Point, which manages about $ 14.5 billion of assets, has raised a dedicated investment instrument, targeting $ 500 million to $ 1 billion equity, in order to buy stock Sony, sources close to the subject said.

A spokesman for Sony declined to comment on the report.

Sony's shares reached their highest level in three weeks early trading in Tokyo, recovering from last month's slump caused by concerns that its recovery in recent years has lost momentum.

The conglomerate of electronics and entertainment had a market value of 6.1 billion yen ($ 55 billion) at the closing on Monday in Tokyo.

This would be Sony's second change campaign for Sony in six years. Investors are looking for the next pillar of profit for the company as its gaming activity slows down and its PlayStation 4 console reaches the end of its life cycle.

Third Point wants Sony to explore options for some of its business units, including its movie studio, which the fund said has sparked interest in takeover bids, sources said.

Kenichiro Yoshida, general manager of Sony, believes that movies, music and other intellectual property are at the heart of stable revenue growth, after struggling for years against losses of consumer goods, such as than televisions, more sensitive to price competition.

"I do not think the sale of the photo industry is an option for Sony now because entertainment content is becoming crucial for the company," said Hideki Yasuda, an analyst at Ace Securities, highlighting the observed synergies in the success of Marvel's Spider-Man action game. and the associated movie series.

"The profit margin of Sony's photo business is slimmer than that of its rivals, but this is a result of past management decisions, including the sale of rights to Spider-Man products."

The company is on track to recover from a series of short-term measures that reduce its profits in the long run, said Yasuda.

Sony expects its photo area to post operating profit of 50 billion yen ($ 450 million) for the year ended March, less than a tenth of the estimated profit of 870 billion yen for the whole of society.

Sony has recently reduced or discontinued several TV channels in the image segment to reduce costs, while recording successes such as "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" and "Venom".

In 2014, Third Point had sold about 20% of its capital to Sony, after spending a year and a half pressuring Sony to remove its entertainment division, a call rejected by its predecessor, Kazuo Hirai.