Sony to sell off Battery Division

[Gizmo]

From a article posted at mybroadband.co.za it seems that Sony is in a bit of a financial pickel and is looking at selling off its battery divsion

"Sony has cut its annual profit outlook from ¥300 billion (R39.3 billion) to ¥270 billion (R35.4 billion), Reuters reported.

According to the report, Sony said it expects lower profits this year due to impairment losses from the sale of its battery business to Murata Manufacturing.

Reuters reported that Sony wants to sell its battery business for about ¥17.5 billion (R2.3 billion) and expects to book an impairment charge of ¥33 billion (R4.33 billion).

Sony will announce its results from the first half of the year tomorrow, along with information about its full-year outlook."

 

[zadiac]

Hope Samsung buys it and not some other crappy battery maker.

 

[RichJB]

I don't think the Japanese govt would be very happy if Samsung bought Sony's battery division. They are trying to create a Japanese "national champion" battery company to oppose Samsung and LG which are both Korean.

Anyhow, they've finally confirmed the sale to Murata, who supply batteries to Apple. From the Sony website today:

Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. ("Murata") and Sony Corporation ("Sony") today announced that they have signed a binding definitive agreement to transfer the Sony Group's battery business to the Murata Group ("Transfer"). Murata and Sony had previously announced on July 28, 2016 that they had entered into a non-binding memorandum of understanding regarding the Transfer.

The sale was apparently prompted by "slowing demand for smartphones". Great, so now we can expect our phones to pack up faster, necessitating buying a new one more frequently.