Sony
Profile
Sony is one of the world's biggest consumer electronics and entertainment companies. Founded in 1946, it parlayed its success with floppy disks, compact discs, the Walkman, and the Playstation into Hollywood with the purchase of Columbia Pictures in 1989. Its music division has come under flak for 'payola' - bribing radio stations to buy airtime for its artists - and its film division for publishing fake reviews by 'critic' David Manning to boost unpopular films in 2001. In 2005, it paid New York state $10 million to close an investigation by Eliot Spitzer, then state attorney general, into lavish gifts, free trips and other giveaways to media executives.
Consumer electronics, Semiconductors, Video games, Films, TV shows, Music, Computer hardware, Telecommunications equipment, Robots
Violations
| Top 5 Offense Groups (Groups Defined) | Penalty Total | Number of Records |
|---|---|---|
| competition-related offenses | $80,000,000 | 4 |
| employment-related offenses | $29,655,000 | 7 |
| consumer-protection-related offenses | $15,250,000 | 8 |
| safety-related offenses | $87,627 | 6 |
| environment-related offenses | $5,000 | 1 |
(May 3, 2021)
Stories
Activism
Thousands of Fans Plan to Storm Sony Studios and Demand Spider-Man Return to MCU
Cameron Leblanc | Fatherly | August 22, 2019
A disgruntled group of Marvel fans is planning a protest at Sony headquarters after Sony Pictures, which owns the rights to Spider-Man, and Disney, which owns Marvel Studios, failed to reach a deal to keep the superhero in the MCU.
Protesters Rally Outside Sony Music Headquarters, Demand the Company Drop R. Kelly
Margeaux Sippell | Variety | January 16, 2019
Standing in the cold with megaphones outside of Sony Music’s New York headquarters, a group of activists delivered the company, parent of Kelly’s longtime label RCA, a petition signed by over 217,000 people demanding that the singer be dropped from the label.
‘Free Kesha’ protesters rally outside Sony's Midtown headquarters, call for singer’s release from contract with alleged rapist Dr. Luke
Larry McShane and Chelsia Rose Marcius | Daily News | February 26, 2016
A small but passionate group of pro-Kesha protesters rallied Friday outside Sony headquarters in Manhattan to voice their support for the chart-topping singer.
New York writers brave rain at Sony protest
Gregg Goldstein | Reuters | November 20, 2007
“What to Give, What to Get?” asked a sign in the Sony storefront window at the conglomerate’s Madison Avenue headquarters. Some 150 Writers Guild of America picketers who braved the rain with their own signs outside the building Tuesday had a quick answer: a share of Internet revenues for their work.
& Lawsuits
The Justice Department is worried about an anime monopoly after the Sony deal
Ian Carlos Campbell | The Verge | March 24, 2021
Sony’s plan to combine Crunchyroll and Funimation into a streaming service to lead its anime empire seemed as simple as tossing AT&T a billion dollars.
Sony Music Investigated by Rdio for Alleged Collusion in Streaming Music
Eric Gardner | Hollywood Reporter | July 6, 2016
The music major responds that the suggestion of antitrust violations are "nothing but speculation and conjecture" and pretext for avoiding $17 million claims plus allegations of fraud.
Sony Ponies Up for Payola
Alex Mar | Rolling Stone | July 25, 2005
Sony BMG Music Entertainment — an umbrella organization that includes Arista Records, Columbia Records, Sony Music International and So So Def Records — agreed today to pay a $10 million settlement in an industry-wide investigation by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer into payola, the practice of paying radio stations for airplay of their artists.
& Relations
Ex-Sony Employees Sue Over Hack, Claim Company Failed to Protect Data
Associated Press | December 16, 2014
Sony Pictures Entertainment now faces two lawsuits from four former employees who claim the company did not do enough to stop hackers.
multiple allegations of toxic culture at Sony Music Australia as CEO Denis Handlin leaves
Kelly Burke | The Guardian | June 21, 2021
The most powerful man in Australian pop music, Denis Handlin, has been removed as head of Sony Music Australia, a week after Guardian Australia approached Sony’s head office with multiple complaints from former employees alleging a toxic work environment at the global company’s Australian operation.
Financials
Note: Most recent list is not always the most complete list.
Croctail Subsidiary Tool using the CorpWatch API - This API uses automated parsers to extract the subsidiary relationship information from Exhibit 21 of companies' 10-K filings with the SEC.
Click here for the latest list.
Political Influence
OpenSecrets.org Profile of Sony
& Evasion
Revealed: global video games giants avoiding millions in UK tax
Oliver Holmes, Keza MacDonald & Keith Stuart | The Guardian | October 2, 2019
A UK tax policy intended to boost the domestic video games industry has been used by some of the world’s largest entertainment companies to avoid paying tens of millions of pounds in corporation tax, a Guardian investigation has found.