Sony Surges After Report Loeb's Third Point to Push for Changes

(Bloomberg) -- Sony Corp. shares soared in Tokyo trading after a report that Daniel Loeb’s hedge fund Third Point is building a stake in the Japanese electronics giant as part of an effort to sway its corporate strategy.

Third Point is aiming to raise between $500 million to $1 billion for a dedicated investment vehicle to buy more Sony shares, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter, and it’s pushing the sprawling Japanese company to explore options for some of its business units. The hedge fund believes Amazon.com Inc. and Netflix Inc. may have interest in taking over the company’s movie studio. It’s also questioning how the semiconductor and insurance units fit with the organization, according to Reuters.

Sony shares jumped 9.3 percent Tuesday, the most since November 2017.

Sony is in the middle of a turnaround, but with fewer games in store for the already-aging PlayStation 4 and Sony’s own Xperia phone business still bleeding money, Chief Executive Officer Kenichiro Yoshida is now tasked with proving the transformation can continue.

Third Point has taken a stake in Sony before, though the firm exited the position in 2014 with a 20 percent gain.

To contact the reporter on this story: Krista Gmelich in New York at kgmelich1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jillian Ward at jward56@bloomberg.net, Molly Schuetz, Nick Turner

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