Sony Corp said Tuesday it had rejected a proposal by US hedge fund Third Point to sell a part of its entertainment arm.
Sony’s board “has unanimously concluded that continuing to own 100 per cent of our entertainment business is the best path forward,” Kazuo Hirai, Sony president and chief executive, said in a letter to Daniel Loeb, who heads Third Point.
Loeb, a billionaire whose fund owns nearly 7 per cent of Sony’s shares, was quoted by Bloomberg News as saying he was “disappointed” with the decision.
In May, Loeb proposed Sony sell up to a 20-per-cent stake in the entertainment unit through a public offering.
Last week, Sony posted a net profit of 3.48 billion yen (35 million dollars) in the April-to-June quarter, a turnaround from a net loss of 24.64 billion yen in the same period last year.