SONY CORPORATION

Japanese Sony Kk, major Japanese manufacturer of consumer electronics products. Headquarters are in Tokyo. The company was incorporated in 1946 as Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation. Its founders were Ibuka Masaru, whose Japan Precision Instruments Company had supplied electronic devices during World War II, and Morita Akio, an applied sciences instructor. The venture, which was funded by Morita's father, was formed to apply the advanced technology developed during the war to the manufacture of consumer products. The company's present name was adopted in 1958. Initially the company made voltmeters, electrically heated cushions, resonator sound generators, and similar devices. The first major consumer item it produced was an audio tape recorder, introduced in Japan in 1950. Since then the company, which markets its products worldwide under the Sony trademark, has continued to pioneer new technology for consumer products. In 1957 Sony introduced the world's first pocket-sized, all-transistor radio. In 1960 Sony introduced an 8-inch (20-centimetre) transistorized television set, creating a new market for television; and in 1968 it brought out colour television sets equipped with the simplified Trinitron picture tube. The company was one of the first to recognize the potential of the consumer videotape market, and in 1969 it introduced a colour video cassette recorder for both industrial and consumer use. In 1972 it formed an affiliate to market its Betamax colour videocassette system. Sony spearheaded Japan's drive to become the world's dominant consumer electronics manufacturer in the late 20th century. In 198788 Sony purchased the CBS Records Group from CBS Inc., thus acquiring the world's largest record company. It followed that purchase with the purchase in 1989 of Columbia Pictures Entertainment Inc.