Sony has completed 4 recorded acquisitions and 0 divestitures or spin-offs, spanning 1988 to 2021.
| Date | Type | Assets | Counterparty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2021 | Acquisition | Crunchyroll | — | $1.18bn |
| Oct 2008 | Acquisition | RCA Records | — | $1.2bn |
| Nov 1989 | Acquisition | Sony Pictures and Columbia Pictures | — | $3.4bn |
| Jan 1988 | Acquisition | Sony Music and Columbia Records | — | $2bn |
Sony 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.
Sony 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.
Sony 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.
Sony 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.
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