A couple of months ago Daniel Loeb, hedge fund manager and owner of a large 7% Sony share criticized the Sony company strategy. He recently also criticized the Sony movie business. But this time Sony got a very unexpected backup from George Clooney. Deadline.com reports Clooneys words:
“Loeb calls himself an activist investor, and I would call him a carpetbagger, and one who is trying to spread a climate of fear that pushes studios to want to make only tent poles… Why is he buying stock like crazy if he’s so down on things? He’s trying to manipulate the market. I am no apologist for the studios, but these people know what they are doing.”
“How any hedge fund guy can call for responsibility is beyond me, because if you look at those guys, there is no conscience at work. It is a business that is only about creating wealth, where when they fail, they get bailed out and where nobody gets fired. A guy from a hedge fund entity is the single least qualified person to be making these kinds of judgments, and he is dangerous to our industry.”
Well said George!
And you may read the latest article on The Verge too:
In the end, Sony saw Loeb’s proposal as little more than a distraction along the way to executing Hirai’s plan. And, with recent successes in smartphones and even televisions, it’s understandable that the company would want to keep its focus on the path ahead.
Now let’s see if the soon to be announced new QX and NEX cameras will be another success!
18 Responses
What else?
Well. I rarely agree with Clooney on much but in this case the man is spot on. Sony has finally gone back to their roots, and in nearly full circle. They’re going to move several industries forward, most especially the imaging industry. There will be those who partner up or tag along and there are those who will be unwillingly dragged but in either case, massive change is coming and it will be Sony in the vanguard position. Deniers will abound but even their most vehement of competitors have begun entering the “me too” phase of design, whether they’ll admit it or not.
It’s going to get exciting up in here shortly.
I totally agree with George Clooney. Hats off to him for his brave comments.
Clooney’s not such a Looney after all. ^^
Andrea! please give us the specs of 16-70 E lens and also Full-Frame Nex
coming today. Along another rumor. Damn busy me 🙂
Is this your job or you doing rumors along side of it haha 🙂
I am a documentarist and photographer working for a company. Using my free time and laptop to work on rumors.
“Using my free time and laptop to work on rumors.”
At least that’s what he tells his boss! 😛
I am aprt of the company. So there is no boss. And as a documentarist I can well manage my time. I don’t have a regular 8 hours job 🙂
Documentarist and photographer? What a useful pair of expertises! I do the same here (technical writer and the one photographer who thinks that phones are not good enough to properly illustrate otherwise obscure manuals).
Keep up!
What’s happening with the Nex 7 successor? Any reliable specs or timeframe?
Within the next 10-14 days I will know and share everything.
I have to agree with Daniel Loeb here. As someone who has worked in Sony’s film department and a frequent visitor to this site AND an owner of Sony camera products, it’s clear to me that Sony doesn’t push the envelope and plays it safe to make more money…or so they think. Cameras: they disable common functions that the hardware can handle and competitors are easily providing and constantly updating through firmware updates. Movies: Sony underbids for projects then uses a SAFE formula to make that movie mediocre but then spends ludicrous amounts for advertising to make you want to see their crappy film. They have more tools at their disposal than you realize and, for some reason, get low-grade directors to produce their stuff. In fact, they make their own incredible tools for movies and make a hefty income selling them to other companies. Bottom line, Sony plays it safe. If they took a risk (creatively) then they would be at the top of the heap. Same goes for their camera division. But, apparently with the new guy in charge, things will change. The move to full-on mirrorless is a sign of that.
I agree with you on the camera view but you are off on the movies. The way the movies are distributed in the US pretty much requires studios to spend tons on marketing to allow a studio to recoup the investment. Studios get a much larger percent of the box office gross the first two weeks, it then drops off big time for the following weeks. So a studio has to push like mad for the opening week, a low marketed word of mouth movie might make as much over a three month period as a two week hard pressed movie that fades quickly but the studio makes gets a much bigger piece of the gross from that two week fader.
And nothing wrong with trying to make the movies for a low price look at what happens when a studio opens the cash box for a huge movie – you get the Lone Ranger that has forced Disney to lower their earnings.
Agreed George!
GC is too liberal.
not a big fan of GC but he got add points now, but more importantly RESPECT, wich in case of LOEB was the other way (CARPERBAGGER lol i would call him worst things)