Sony

Japanese electronics and media company. It produced the Walkman, the first easily portable cassette player with headphones, in 1980, and manufactures microchips, televisions, and games consoles, among many other products. It diversified into entertainment by the purchase of CBS Records in 1988 and Columbia Pictures in 1989. Subsidiaries include electronics, entertainment, mobile phone, music, and financial services companies.

During the 1970s Sony developed the Betamax video-cassette format, which technicians rated as more advanced than the rival VHS system developed by the Matsushita Corporation, but the latter eventually triumphed in the marketplace. Other products include the 3.5-in disk drives for the Apple Macintosh (1984), Discman (1984), and PlayStation (1994).

Sony's former senior executive, Akio Morita (1921–1999), was co-author of A Japan That Can Say No (1989), a series of essays asserting that Japan should command a leading role in the world economy and criticizing US business practices.