https://brandtree.org/company/sony-groupAcquisitions, divestitures and ownership changes involving Sony.https://brandtree.org/deal/sony-acquires-crunchyroll-2021https://brandtree.org/deal/sony-acquires-crunchyroll-2021Mon, 09 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMTSony acquired Crunchyroll from AT&T for $1.175 billion and merged its own Funimation service into it. Crunchyroll had begun as an unlicensed anime site run by university students; simultaneous licensed release is what turned anime into a mainstream global business.https://brandtree.org/deal/sony-buys-out-bmg-2008https://brandtree.org/deal/sony-buys-out-bmg-2008Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMTSony bought out Bertelsmann's half of Sony BMG for about $1.2 billion, ending a joint venture formed in 2004 and taking full ownership of RCA Records among others. Bertelsmann kept the music publishing catalogue, which it rebuilt into BMG.https://brandtree.org/deal/sony-acquires-columbia-pictures-1989https://brandtree.org/deal/sony-acquires-columbia-pictures-1989Wed, 08 Nov 1989 00:00:00 GMTSony acquired Columbia Pictures Entertainment for about $3.4 billion in cash, roughly $4.9 billion including assumed debt. Japanese ownership of a Hollywood studio was politically contentious, and Sony wrote down billions on the business a few years later before it eventually became one of its most profitable divisions.https://brandtree.org/deal/sony-acquires-cbs-records-1988https://brandtree.org/deal/sony-acquires-cbs-records-1988Tue, 05 Jan 1988 00:00:00 GMTSony acquired CBS Records for about $2 billion, buying the oldest record label in the world along with it. It was the first of two purchases that turned a Japanese electronics manufacturer into a major American media owner, and it drew political alarm in the United States at the time.