A few years ago I speculated publicly about Sony buying Apple. (That's Sony chairman Nobuyuki Idei at right, from his biography on the Sony.Com site.)
It was a popular thought back then.
Sony blazed new trails among Japanese manufacturers, preferring proprietary control of its technologies, emphasizing design and its brand name, acquiring American firms and integrating them. In the 1990s, on the other hand, Apple was a troubled PC maker with a small market share.
This was before two things happened. Apple's genius returned to his throne, and Sony's faded from the scene.
Sony Founder Akio Morita, who passed away in 1999, was a legendary entrepreneur, a visionary, a genius. In Tokyo, Elvis has indeed left the building.
Still, in the first year after Morita's death, Sony could have done the deal easily. And the spirit of a man equal to Morita in vision, Steve Jobs, would be working for Japan Inc.
Today things are different. (That's Jobs from Business 2.0.) Sony, whose ADRs are traded in the U.S. under the symbol SNE, is worth $35.4 billion. Apple, traded as AAPL, is worth $35.9 billion. A merger between Sony and Apple would be one between equals, and Apple the likely buyer.
Ever wonder what Steve Jobs could do with two movie studios? (Sony just added MGM to the former Columbia Pictures.)
Before that happens, of course, we have one more market battle (and much more amusing speculation). Apple is finally taking the raps off its iTunes phone, with Motorola. Sony, meanwhile, has dusted off the name of its last great hit, announcing the Sony Ericsson Walkman phone.
Which side will win? My betting is on Apple.
And then you can get that Samurai outfit ready for Jobs-san.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for over 25 years and has covered the online world professionally since 1985. He founded the "Interactive Age Daily" for CMP Media, and has written for the Chicago Tribune, Advertising Age, and dozens of other publications over the years.
1. Jesse Kopelman on February 16, 2005 04:02 PM writes...
The problem with Sony is that they do not have to follow general accounting principles and thus it is very hard to tell what they are really worth. It could be $35B, or $3.5B, or $350B. I'd be very surprised if an American Company would every buy them in whole. If anything, I'd think there would be accounting (fraud) benefits in any acquisition going the other way.
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