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Acquired / episode intelligence

SONY

7 Mar 2022 59 published claims 2 attributable people
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Speakers in the public record

Ben GilbertDavid Rosenthal

Claim mix

belief 39evaluation 8uncertainty 4prediction 3recommendation 2commitment 2preference 1

Evidence policy

Every row below preserves an exact excerpt. Identified speakers are linked; unresolved voices are labeled and excluded from people counts.

Claim ledger

The useful parts, with receipts.

59 published records

03 / commitment

Other Japanese CEOs were not really willing to move to the US. It was a very un-Japanese thing to say, I want to do business in the US so badly that I will move my family and become a part of this culture to do that.

“Other Japanese CEOs were not really willing to move to the US. It was a very un-Japanese thing to say, I want to do business in the US so badly that I will move my family and become a part of this culture to do that.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired

16 / belief

Until very recently, when I think their strategy has shifted pretty meaningfully, the thinking was always, we're not going to go for the hardcore gamers, we're going to go for the Ben Gilbert when he's 13 years old idea of, well, we need a DVD player anyway and this thing can play games, so great, and then they can use that to have a computer in the living room.

“Until very recently, when I think their strategy has shifted pretty meaningfully, the thinking was always, we're not going to go for the hardcore gamers, we're going to go for the Ben Gilbert when he's 13 years old idea of, well, we need a DVD player anyway and this thing can play games, so great, and then they can use that to have a computer in the living room.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired

17 / belief

I think Steve had this thing where he could have reverence for the history of a company in a way that made their current competition not matter, but the companies that he viewed having no taste and no history like going thermonuclear on Google or his relationship with Samsung, all bets were off.

“I think Steve had this thing where he could have reverence for the history of a company in a way that made their current competition not matter, but the companies that he viewed having no taste and no history like going thermonuclear on Google or his relationship with Samsung, all bets were off.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired

18 / belief

Blu-ray was expensive and they wanted to do the same thing they did with the PS2, use it as the Trojan horse to get Blu-ray into living rooms, win the format war with HD DVD. Then the Cell processor, they developed with, I think, Toshiba and IBM.

“Blu-ray was expensive and they wanted to do the same thing they did with the PS2, use it as the Trojan horse to get Blu-ray into living rooms, win the format war with HD DVD. Then the Cell processor, they developed with, I think, Toshiba and IBM.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired

19 / evaluation

There's just been so much consolidation to the point where if you go buy the best phone, which is the top-of-the-line iPhone from Apple, that is the best one that humans can buy, and yet there are millions and millions of people buying that device.

“There's just been so much consolidation to the point where if you go buy the best phone, which is the top-of-the-line iPhone from Apple, that is the best one that humans can buy, and yet there are millions and millions of people buying that device.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired

20 / belief

One of the things that if you look at bear and bull cases on Sony out there, and we're going to do our own in a minute here, one thing that came out at CES last year, I think with Sony electric car, that's something that people are very scared about like, no, no, no.

“One of the things that if you look at bear and bull cases on Sony out there, and we're going to do our own in a minute here, one thing that came out at CES last year, I think with Sony electric car, that's something that people are very scared about like, no, no, no.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired

24 / belief

Continuing their arms dealer strategy, I think, as they realize how bad they were going to be at making cell phones, there was a thing that was happening that started 15, 20 years before, which was innovating on sensors, in particular, camera sensors.

“Continuing their arms dealer strategy, I think, as they realize how bad they were going to be at making cell phones, there was a thing that was happening that started 15, 20 years before, which was innovating on sensors, in particular, camera sensors.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired

26 / uncertainty

I don't know if it took the pandemic or just this current generation of consoles with the series X and S Xboxes and the PS5, but I feel like these companies have finally woken up that like, guys, video games are the largest medium by revenue out there, and they shouldn't be strategy devices to achieve other aims.

“I don't know if it took the pandemic or just this current generation of consoles with the series X and S Xboxes and the PS5, but I feel like these companies have finally woken up that like, guys, video games are the largest medium by revenue out there, and they shouldn't be strategy devices to achieve other aims.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired

29 / belief

In some ways, this recent era, and I think we should grade the other eras of Sony too, but this recent era where they grew their market cap from $30 billion to $150 million, it's kind of a bummer to call that an F.

“In some ways, this recent era, and I think we should grade the other eras of Sony too, but this recent era where they grew their market cap from $30 billion to $150 million, it's kind of a bummer to call that an F.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired

31 / uncertainty

If you go and request them, I don't know if it is anyone, if it's just journalists, or whoever special guests, but they have this stuff preserved and can bring it out to you with gloves on and let you read the founding prospectus.

“If you go and request them, I don't know if it is anyone, if it's just journalists, or whoever special guests, but they have this stuff preserved and can bring it out to you with gloves on and let you read the founding prospectus.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired

34 / belief

The stock would go up a lot after 1983, but the spirit of what they were saying was right because I think the very thing that was alluring to Steve Jobs—that this company makes stuff of the highest quality always has the superior brand and therefore can command higher prices—was kind of going away.

“The stock would go up a lot after 1983, but the spirit of what they were saying was right because I think the very thing that was alluring to Steve Jobs—that this company makes stuff of the highest quality always has the superior brand and therefore can command higher prices—was kind of going away.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired

35 / belief

I think there are a lot of gamers out there like me that in an ordinary year, I would maybe buy a couple of games. But it's a no brainer for me to subscribe to Game Pass for $15 a month, in which case, I end up spending a lot more money on games, Microsoft makes more revenue off of me than if I were just buying games, and I feel happier because I get access to so much more than I would otherwise.

“I think there are a lot of gamers out there like me that in an ordinary year, I would maybe buy a couple of games. But it's a no brainer for me to subscribe to Game Pass for $15 a month, in which case, I end up spending a lot more money on games, Microsoft makes more revenue off of me than if I were just buying games, and I feel happier because I get access to so much more than I would otherwise.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired

38 / belief

Other than the Macintosh 8500 that I had at my desk and the G3 that my parents had on their desk, we had those two Apple products, and I think my dad had the first iPod which plugged into our Sony stereo, but everything else was Sony.

“Other than the Macintosh 8500 that I had at my desk and the G3 that my parents had on their desk, we had those two Apple products, and I think my dad had the first iPod which plugged into our Sony stereo, but everything else was Sony.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired

39 / belief

A lot of people don't want it to be when they're marketing Made in America goods because they want that to be a big selling point and I think there's a lot of people who do really care about that.

“A lot of people don't want it to be when they're marketing Made in America goods because they want that to be a big selling point and I think there's a lot of people who do really care about that.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired

40 / belief

I suspect what that means is that he would have to believe the long-term future of VR is actually in gaming, not in the lifestyle, which, if Apple comes out with something, it's going to be for all over the place, at least all over your house.

“I suspect what that means is that he would have to believe the long-term future of VR is actually in gaming, not in the lifestyle, which, if Apple comes out with something, it's going to be for all over the place, at least all over your house.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired

42 / belief

By the way, just to put some numbers around how royalties work, this Blu-ray Disc Association earns about $7 for every Blu-ray player sold, then I think there's maybe $2 that they make from selling the software that goes on it to be able to read the Blu-rays, and then it's something like 7¢ per disc.

“By the way, just to put some numbers around how royalties work, this Blu-ray Disc Association earns about $7 for every Blu-ray player sold, then I think there's maybe $2 that they make from selling the software that goes on it to be able to read the Blu-rays, and then it's something like 7¢ per disc.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired

46 / belief

I think part of his vision, Morita would contribute to this too, but I think Ibuka really saw a huge opportunity after the war in that all this technology that had been focused on military and industrial use, but primarily military use, around the world and in Japan.

“I think part of his vision, Morita would contribute to this too, but I think Ibuka really saw a huge opportunity after the war in that all this technology that had been focused on military and industrial use, but primarily military use, around the world and in Japan.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired

52 / evaluation

Sony has a bunch of business lines now, so this stat almost isn't going to sound as impressive as it should just because of the sheer breadth of stuff that they own, but the music segment, Sony Music, which comes from CBS Records did (I think) 11% or 12% of the revenue of the whole company.

“Sony has a bunch of business lines now, so this stat almost isn't going to sound as impressive as it should just because of the sheer breadth of stuff that they own, but the music segment, Sony Music, which comes from CBS Records did (I think) 11% or 12% of the revenue of the whole company.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired

54 / evaluation

Originally, the intent was he and his family were going to be there for two years and set up Sony Corporation of America. It ultimately ends up being about one year because his father passes away and he has to go back to Nagoya.

“Originally, the intent was he and his family were going to be there for two years and set up Sony Corporation of America. It ultimately ends up being about one year because his father passes away and he has to go back to Nagoya.”
Speaker
David Rosenthal
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired

55 / prediction

I think there's a market for people who want a slimmer, sexier version of that where we throw away the recording capabilities, we get that right out, stop taking up space with the speaker, and attach headphones.

“I think there's a market for people who want a slimmer, sexier version of that where we throw away the recording capabilities, we get that right out, stop taking up space with the speaker, and attach headphones.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired

58 / prediction

Because I think Morita and Ohga are pretty convinced that to continue being a successful growing electronics company, they need to own the content that ends up on those devices or at least have some leverage and ability to design more custom experiences using wholly-owned content.

“Because I think Morita and Ohga are pretty convinced that to continue being a successful growing electronics company, they need to own the content that ends up on those devices or at least have some leverage and ability to design more custom experiences using wholly-owned content.”
Speaker
Ben Gilbert
Episode
SONY
Publisher
Acquired
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