Sony's Idei not worried about slowdown

Sony chief executive Nobuyuki Idei is confident the U.S. recession would not affect the electronics giant

By Kristie Lu Stout
CNN.com Writer

TOKYO, Japan (CNN) -- Sony's chief executive Nobuyuki Idei says he is confident his company can weather the U.S. economic slowdown.

During a foreign press briefing Wednesday, Idei announced that although Sony cannot escape the American recession entirely, the consumer electronics giant is better insulated than other firms to endure the slump.

The Sony chief says the company's emphasis on value-added consumer products gives it a critical edge over other technology companies.

Smaller impact on Sony

"As opposed to infrastructure, device and component companies, the effect on Sony from the American recession would be much smaller because Sony is a company that delivers final products," says Idei.

Sony reported nearly 15 percent growth in U.S. electronics sales and has gained on competitors during the last year.

Idei told reporters that the company was able to achieve 69 percent domestic sales growth in the past three years, even during a time of economic stagnation in Japan.

But with 40 percent of total sales coming from the American market, Sony admits that it is not invincible to the U.S. recession.

"As the year goes into a serious recession it would impact the business. But so far, Sony's sales have remained fairly robust despite the slowdown in the U.S.," a Sony spokesperson told CNN.

"Of course they cannot be unaffected by the U.S. recession," says Merrill Lynch's Sony watcher Kuriyama Hitoshi.

"But the impact will be smaller than other consumer companies."

Idei also revealed to reporters that he was in talks with AOL Time Warner, the parent company of CNN, and Yahoo! to potentially supply hardware and content including Sony's film and music assets.

The Sony chief says that the talks would not necessarily lead to a formal merger since he prefers soft alliances and not the knotty media acquisitions the company made in the 1980s.

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