TOKYO, Jan 21 — Sony Corp. said yesterday it will spin off its home entertainment business into a joint venture with major Chinese television maker TCL Electronics Holdings Ltd. as it seeks to boost its global competitiveness.

TCL will hold a 51 per cent stake in the venture, with Sony, a wholly owned subsidiary and the electronics unit of Sony Group Corp., holding the remaining 49 per cent, according to Kyodo news.

The new company will continue to use the Sony name and the Bravia TV brand for its products.

The move comes as Sony’s global market share in televisions has been declining, with its TV sales for the fiscal year ending March 2025 falling 9.6 per cent from the previous year to ¥564.1 billion (RM14.5 billion).

The joint venture will handle the full process from product development and design to manufacturing and sales. The two companies plan to execute definitive binding agreements by the end of March, aiming to launch the business in April 2027.

Sony entered the television business in 1960 with the release of the world’s first direct-view portable transistor TV.

Its proprietary Trinitron cathode-ray tubes, used in television sets and computer monitors and launched in 1968, later became a global hit.

The entertainment and electronics giant also launched the world’s first OLED television in 2007.

TCL, which ranks second worldwide in TV shipments, has been expanding its global presence with aggressive low-price strategies.

According to the company’s 2024 financial report, it shipped 29 million televisions that year, giving it a global market share of around 14 per cent. — Bernama-Kyodo