Sony plans to continue to make big acquisitions this year, spending at least another 700 billion yen
CTOnews.com, March 8 (Xinhua) recently, Microsoft has become the focus of the acquisition market with the acquisition of Bethesda and Activision Blizzard, but Sony is also quietly carrying out its own acquisition plan. In the past few years, PlayStation has acquired a number of game companies, such as Bungie and Housemarque, and seems likely to continue to do so.
As early as 2021, Sony said it would allocate 2 trillion yen (CTOnews.com Note: currently about 102 billion yuan) for "strategic investment" in the entertainment industry within three years. During a question-and-answer session at a recent Morgan Stanley technology, media and telecom conference, Sony's chief financial officer Hiroshi Waioka updated the plan. Two years later, they have spent about 1.3 trillion yen, leaving about 700 billion yen (currently about 35.7 billion yuan) for further investment. "We have spent nearly 1.3 trillion yen by the end of last year, and we still have one year left. We hope to generate more than 3 trillion yen in cash flow within three years. Next year is the last year of our current medium-term plan. We will allocate operating cash flow to strategic investments and capital expenditures as well as share buybacks. "
Judging from Waioka's words, Sony does not seem to strictly abide by its initial commitment to invest 2 trillion yen, as they are likely to allocate more operating cash flow to strategic investments and capital expenditures. It is important to note that the money set aside is for Sony as a whole, not just for the PlayStation division.
In previous acquisitions, Sony has invested about 1.3 trillion yen in other studios, which has enabled Sony to successfully acquire a number of game developers such as Bungie and Housemarque, and invest in companies such as Epic and FromSoftware. At the same time, Sony also used the money to acquire Crunchyroll, a company that provides non-game content on the PlayStation platform.
