Sony Corporation’s stock closed on May 21 at 22.91 points, almost two points higher than it was eight hours before. That’s about a 9.25 percent jump in Sony’s stock, an insane jump that a lot of companies would kill for. Then again, such jumps aren't unheard of for companies in Sony’s position.
Microsoft’s stock closed down 0.66 percent, apparently unaffected by the reveal of the Xbox One. Meanwhile, Nintendo’s stock rose 2.2 percent.
For some of us, our first instinct was that this might have occurred as a result of the reveal of Microsoft’s Xbox One, which focused more on entertainment than games. While this could have been a contribution, Bloomberg reports the stock jump might have been driven by a rumor IGN reported on last week: Sony may be spinning off its entertainment division.
Bloomberg noted that the jump in stock value correlated with a report from Japanese newspaper Nikkei, which stated that the company is “leaning toward spinning off its entertainment division”, which is mainly comprised of Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Music entertainment. Such a move was first publicly suggested by Daniel S. Loeb, who owns 6.5 percent of Sony.
The article also states that “Sony executives are holding their regular corporate strategy meeting in Tokyo tomorrow. The company has relied on profit from its entertainment division to offset losses from its flagship consumer electronics business.”
