Sony Company Development History

October 1945 - Ibuka established the Tokyo Communications Research Institute in the Nihombashi area of ??Tokyo, with an initial staff of 7 people. May 1946 - Akio Morita joined, and the company was reorganized into Tokyo Communications Industry Co., Ltd. with a capital of 190,000 Japanese currency February 1947 – Moved to the current location at Gotenyama, Shinagawa Ward August 1955 – Listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange January 1958 – In response to the pace of internationalization, the company name was changed to Sony 1959 – Norio Ohga officially joined Sony 1960 February 1960 – The US branch is established. December 1960 – The Swiss branch is established. 1960 – Nobuyuki Idei joins Sony. 1961 Akio Morita establishes the Sony Design Center, chaired by the young Norio Ohga. June 1961 – ADR is released in the United States 1962 December 1968 – Established Hong Kong Branch 1966 – Dutch Phillips signed a free cross-licensing agreement 1966 – Established Sony Plaza lifestyle store March 1968 – Established CBS/Sony Music Company as a joint venture with CBS of the United States May 1968 – Established British branch in 1969 – Ando Guowei joined SONY June 1970 – established German branch September 1970 – listed on the New York Stock Exchange February 1973 – established French branch May 1975 – comprehensive development of Betamax August 1979 September – Sony Prudential Life Insurance Co. Ltd is established as a 50-50 joint venture with Prudential Life Insurance Company of the United States. 1982 – Leading CCD technology developer Kazuo Iwama passes away. November 1986 – Sony Euro European headquarters is established in Germany. January 1988 - Acquired the US CBS record department, CBS/SONY was renamed Sony Music. January 1988 - Announced cooperation with Nintendo to jointly develop SFC|Super Nintendo CD console.

December 1988 – Abandoned the Betamax video tape specification and joined the VHS specification, ending the 14-year video tape specification war. November 1989 – Acquired the American Columbia Tristar Film Company and entered the Hollywood tungsten market. April 1991 – Sony Prudential Life Insurance became 100 Holdings and changed its name to Sony Life Insurance. May 1992 - Broken cooperation with Nintendo. November 1993 - Established SCE - Sony Computer Entertainment to enter the home entertainment game market. April 1995 - Released Dei designated by Norio Ohga. Nobuyuki took over as president May 1995 – Released the slogan "Digital Dream Kids" (Digital, Dreams, Children) November 1995 – Established SCN-Sony Communications Network to enter the Internet content service market October 1996 – Established China branch 1997 March 2019 – Howard Stringer joined SONY December 1997 – Founder Ibuka passed away at the age of 89 1998 – Released the global image slogan lt; Do you dream in Sony ?gt; October 1999 – Founder Morita Akio passed away at the age of 78. April 2000 - Financial report released. The group's brand value exceeded US$100 billion, reaching its highest peak since its founding. June 2000 - Nobuyuki Dei took over as chairman and CEO, and Kuni Ando took over as president. April 2001 April 2001 – Establishment of Sony Bank April 2001 – Establishment of Sony EMCS Corporation (Engineering, Manufacturing and Customer Service) October 2001 – Cooperation with Swedish Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications Company November 2001 – Norio Ohga at the Beijing International Music Festival , collapsed on the podium due to sudden cerebral hemorrhage. October 2002 – Acquired Aihua and became one of its brands. November 2002 – Proposed a “ubiquitous value network” to establish Sony about you perspective for consumers. April 2003 – Financial report Announced a huge quarterly loss of US$1 billion, triggering Sony Shock. The stock price plummeted 25% in two days, and the Japanese stock market was affected. December 2003 – Release of the "Transformation 60" (TR60, Transformation 60) reform plan December 2003 – Released QRIO robot as SONY Goodwill Ambassador in April 2004 – Established Sony’s loss insurance business in April 2004 – Established Sony Financial Holdings financial holding company - integrating banking, insurance, and life insurance, the three major financial businesses April 2004 – Cooperated with South Korea Samsung Electronics first jointly established S-LCD Corporation in May 2004 – Established Sony Connect online music service August 2004 – Sony Music and BMG Music, the world’s fifth largest record company Merged to form Sony Boardman. December 2004 – Sony Pictures Entertainment acquired MGM Films, becoming the world’s largest film company. December 2004 – Announced a licensing technology patent sharing agreement with South Korea’s Samsung Electronics. March 2005 – Announced a major change in management rights. In the 59 years since its founding, Howard Stringer, the first foreigner, took over as chairman and CEO, and Ryoharu Nakahata took over as president. April 2005 – Announced a US$305 million acquisition , Sponsored by FIFA June 22, 2005 – Howard Stringer officially took over as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer CEO 2

August 23, 2005 - Former President Kuni Ando was awarded the Second Class Medal of Merit by the Executive Yuan of Taiwan in recognition of his friendly and economic contributions to Taiwan during his tenure as President. September 22, 2005 - The codename "Japan Project" was released Nippon)'s reform plan January 1, 2006 - Sponsored the New Year's Eve countdown event of Taipei 101 Building in Taiwan, lt; BRAVIA by Sonygt; the first step to climb the world's tallest building January 7, 2006 - Consumption in Las Vegas, USA Electronics Show (CES) announced the Entertainment Future (Entertaining the Future) plan focusing on the development of four major entertainment fields. January 19, 2006 - Announced that Konica Minolta will take over the imaging business from April 1, 2006 Department