Sony Buys Out Ericsson's Stake in Sony Ericsson

As expected, Sony has bought out Ericsson's stake in the Sony Ericsson joint venture, thus making its mobile phone business a 'wholly owned subsidiary of Sony'.

The cost of the buy-out has been announced at €1.05 billion in a deal that has been approved by both of the parties concerned.

Sony CEO Howard Stringer announced that the Sony Corporation would be absorbing certain Sony Ericsson operations, including engineering, research, network development and marketing. He went on to add that 'This acquisition makes sense for Sony and Ericsson, and it will make the difference for consumers, who want to connect with content wherever they are, whenever they want', no doubt referring to Sony's own in-house content including video games, films and music.

Ericsson has confirmed that the transaction has been agreed and that the deal is due to close in January 2012, effectively putting an end to the Sony Ericsson brand. Until that time, Ericsson will have no strategic input in the joint venture.

According to the joint announcement made earlier today, both parties are happy with the decision and are pleased with the success of their communal project. However, when the firms teamed up 10 years ago, the mobile market was all about developing hardware and technology and the focus was still very much on feature phones. Today, the Sony buy-out and Howard Stringer's content-oriented discourse confirms the dawn of a new era for the smartphone market—a market in which content is king.

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