Sony Pictures Entertainment

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Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc.
Sony Pictures logo
Type of Company Subsidiary of Sony Corporation
Founded CBC Film Sales (1919) by Harry Cohn, Jack Cohn and Joe Brandt[1], or 1989 acquisition of Columbia Pictures Entertainment by Sony [2]
or February 10, 1984 founding of Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan), Inc. in Tokyo, Japan [3]
Headquarters United States Culver City, California, USA
Japan Tokyo, Japan (Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan), Inc.) [3]
Key people Howard Stringer, Chairman and CEO of Sony Corporation; Michael Lynton, Chairman and CEO; Amy Pascal, Co-Chairman; Jeff Blake, Vice Chairman; Yair Landau, Vice Chairman
Industry Motion pictures, television
Revenue $6.6 billion (2005)
Website sonypictures.com (United States); sonypictures.net (Global gateway);
sonypictures.jp (Japan)

Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. (SPE) is the television and film production/distribution unit of Japan-based media conglomerate Sony. Its group sales in 2005 has been reported to be of $6.6 billion.[4]

Contents

[edit] History

In 1989, Sony acquired the American film and television production company Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc. (Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures, etc.) from The Coca-Cola Company for $3.4 billion. [5] [6] [2] The company renamed Sony Pictures Entertainment in 1991.

Sony has since created numerous other film production and distribution units, such as creating Sony Pictures Classics for art-house fare, and expanded its growth on April 8, 2005, when a consortium led by Sony and its equity partners acquired the legendary Hollywood studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, Inc. in a deal worth nearly $5 billion.[7]

[edit] Corporate structure

Headquartered in Culver City, California, USA, SPE comprises various studios and entertainment brands, including Columbia Pictures, MGM and GSN.

[edit] Senior management team

  • Michael Lynton
    • Chairman & CEO, Sony Pictures Entertainment
  • Amy Pascal
    • Co-Chairman, Sony Pictures Entertainment
    • Chairman, Motion Picture Group, Sony Pictures Entertainment
  • Jeff Blake
    • Vice Chairman, Sony Pictures Entertainment
    • Chairman, Worldwide Marketing and Distribution, Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group
  • Yair Landau
    • Vice Chairman, Sony Pictures Entertainment
    • President, Sony Pictures Digital

[edit] List of holdings

SPE office building
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SPE office building
The Torch Lady in the Columbia Pictures logo
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The Torch Lady in the Columbia Pictures logo
The white-winged Pegasus in the TriStar Pictures logo
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The white-winged Pegasus in the TriStar Pictures logo
Entrance to SPE main lot in Culver City
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Entrance to SPE main lot in Culver City
  • Sony Pictures Studios: The actual physical buildings, land and movie-making equipment properties in Culver City, California. Includes 22 sound stages, ranging in size from 7,600 to 43,000 square feet (700 to 4,000 m²)
    • Sony Pictures Studios Post Production Facilities
    • Worldwide Product Fulfillment
  • Game Show Network: (joint venture with Liberty Media)
  • Movielink: (joint venture with MGM, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios, and Warner Bros.)
  • Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan) (SPEJ): The company plans, produces, manufactures, sells, imports, exports, leases, broadcasts and distributes movies, TV programs, videos and audio-visual software in Japan. The company web site says it was established on February 10, 1984[3], predating Sony's acquisition of Columbia Pictures Entertainment by 5 years. SPEJ was formed in 1991 through the merger of Columbia Tristar Japan, RCA Columbia Pictures Video Japan, and Japan International Enterprises.[10] Based in Tokyo, Japan.
Leo the Lion in the MGM logo
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Leo the Lion in the MGM logo

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ Sony Pictures History, Sony Pictures Entertainment Museum
  2. ^ a b Nathan, J. (1999) Sony: The Private Life. (Houghton Mifflin, ISBN 0395893275, ISBN 0618126945)
  3. ^ a b c Sony Pictures Online SPEJ - Company Profile, Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan), Inc. official website.
  4. ^ a b c Sony Pictures - Corporate Factsheet, sonypictures.com
  5. ^ a b Rudolph B (1994) So many dreams so many losses. Time vol. 144, no. 22 (Nov. 28, 1994)
  6. ^ a b Griffin N, Masters K (1996) Hit and Run: How Jon Peters and Peter Guber Took Sony for a Ride in Hollywood. (Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0684832666)
  7. ^ a b Sony will purchase MGM in a deal worth about $5 billion, CNN, September 14, 2004.
  8. ^ The Anime Biz - By Ian Rowley, with Hiroko Tashiro, Chester Dawson, and Moon Ihlwan, BusinessWeek, June 27 2005.
  9. ^ Animax Asia - Corporate Profile - Animax-Asia official website.
  10. ^ History of Columbia Pictures Part 3, Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan (in Japanese)
  11. ^ Acquistion of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Completed. April 8, 2005, Press Release, Sony Corporation of America
  12. ^ Sony Annual Report (SEC Form 20-F) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006
  13. ^ Sony 2006 Annual Report

[edit] External links