According to the Wall St. Cheat Sheet, Sony may be in talks with Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision and other Japanese investment funds about the prospect of selling off the company’s lithium-ion battery business. Interest for Sony’s battery business seems to be high as Reuters released a report yesterday claiming that at least three investment banks have approached Sony in regards to the sale. Even if the sale goes through, its believed that Sony will continue to hold some stake in the business which is expected to earn 142.5 billion yen ($172.5 million) in the year that ends in March. A Sony spokesman said:

 “It is true that we are considering reviewing batteries and other businesses unrelated to our core electronics businesses, but we have nothing concrete so far,” 

Sony has been a long time supplier of notebook batteries for companies such as Dell, HP, and even Apple though they no longer use them as a partner.

Discuss:

Is Sony on the right track by selling off its smaller business?