Sony in talks to sell Vaio PC unit to Japan Industrial Partners

Sony Corp is in talks to sell its loss-making Vaio personal computer division to investment fund Japan Industrial Partners, according to several media reports.

A memorandum of understanding for a sale may be released as early as tomorrow, Bloomberg said in its report.

The Nikkei business daily  had earlier reported on the talks saying Sony's PC business could fetch around 40 billion yen ($400 million) to 50 billion yen.

Media reports had early this week speculated that Chinese PC maker Lenovo has been in talks to form a joint venture with Sony for the Japanese company's PC business, but a Sony spokeswoman denied this.

Responding to media speculation, Sony today said in a statement, "Press reports on February 4-5, 2014 stated that Sony Corporation is discussing with Japan Industrial Partners Inc. to establish a new company for Sony's PC business in Japan. Sony has made no announcement in this regard. As Sony has announced previously, Sony continues to address various options for the PC business, but Sony has no further comments.''

Sony may sell only the Japanese business of Vaio, where the brand has a stronger presence among business customers, and  close its PC business overseas or sell more assets to Japan Industrial, Bloomberg's report added.

The sale of the PC business would lead to Sony reporting a net loss for the first time in two years for the year ending 31 March, the Nikkei said.

Sony PC division has around 1,000 employees and most of them will be transferred to the new company to be formed by Japan Industrial Partners, in which Sony will hold a minority stake.

Sony is still negotiating with Japan Industrial Partners to continue with the PC production and research and development at its site in Nagano Prefecture.

Late last month Sony launched its  its new Vaio Flip laptop range to the Indian market, following the launches by Dell and HP (See: Sony launches convertible laptop range Vaio Flip).

Buyers are not prioritising PC purchases, preferring to spend on alternative devices such as smartphones and tablets since their requirements, such as entertainment and information access, can be addressed by devices other than PC's.

Global PC shipments declined 6.9 per cent, registering the seventh consecutive quarterly fall, to 82.6 million units in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to reports by Gartner and IDC last month (See: PC sales in Asia hit by hand-held devices: IDC).

For the year, PC shipments were 315.9 million units, a 10 per cent decline from 2012. This is the worst decline in PC market history, equal to the shipment level in 2009.  Worldwide PC shipments are forecast to total 278 million units in 2014, down 7 per cent from 2013, Gartner said in its report.

Sony's PC global market share was 1.9 per cent at the end of September, down from a peak of 2.5 per cent in 2010, according to tracking firm IDC.