Japan’s Sony Corp and Chinese technology company Lenovo Group are in talks about a possible joint venture to take over Sony’s loss-making Vaio PC business overseas, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The Japanese electronics and media giant called the report inaccurate while acknowledging that it was looking at various possibilities for the unit.<\/p>\n
“Sony continues to address various options for the PC business, but the press report on a possible PC business alliance between Sony and Lenovo is inaccurate,” the company said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Sony has said it plans to revise its product and manufacturing strategy for the Vaio unit as it faces a slump in its PC business, hit by the popularity of smartphones and tablets.<\/p>\n
Sony, which will release results next week, had previously predicted its PC business would be in the red for the year to end-March, without disclosing figures.<\/p>\n
Moody’s Investors Service cut Sony’s debt rating to junk status last week, highlighting challenges in its television and PC businesses and pressure on profitability at its entire core consumer electronics operation.<\/p>\n
Lenovo earns about 80 percent of its revenue from personal computers but has been aggressively diversifying into more promising markets.<\/p>\n
Last week, Lenovo said it would buy Google Inc’s Motorola Mobility handset unit for $2.91 billion, the fourth-largest U.S. acquisition by a Chinese or Hong Kong company ever, to face off against Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Apple Inc in the smartphone market.<\/p>\n
Lenovo to buy Motorola from Google<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Lenovo forks over $2.3 billion for IBM servers<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n