Sony pays Ericsson $1.47B, takes over phone business
Sony is ending a 10-year mobile-phone joint venture with Ericsson, buying out its business partner's 50 percent stake for 1.05 billion euros, or about $1.47 billion.
Through the deal, which had been rumored earlier this month, Sony Ericsson will become a wholly-owned Sony subsidiary, Sony said today. In addition, Sony will assume ownership for mobile phone patents and get other patent rights through a cross-license deal with Ericsson.
Consumers can expect a tighter integration between Sony's phones and the other main devices in the company's "four-screen strategy," said Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer … Read more