TOKYO: British pop diva Adele and suave spy James Bond may be unlikely stars in Sony's turnaround, but the firm is betting they are key to a corporate makeover that analysts say still has a long way to go.
The company is leaning on movies, music, and soaring sales of the PlayStation videogame console in its bid to scrap years of eye-watering losses -- and it appears to be paying off.
Last week, Sony booked a nine-month net profit of almost $2.0 billion, reversing a year-earlier loss, with PS4 sales topping a record 30 million units in the autumn.
Sony partly credited its Hollywood studio's release of "Spectre", the latest instalment in the Bond series, and its music label's top-selling Adele album "25" -- along with boy band One Direction's "Made in the A.M."
The company is on target for only its second annual profit since the 2008 global financial crisis, which gave way to massive losses including a $5.7 billion bloodletting several years ago.
Under one-time US games boss Kazuo Hirai, the iconic firm launched a desperate restructuring that included layoffs and asset sales, including hiving off its laptop division and unloading its Manhattan headquarters.
But Hirai staunchly refused to abandon a struggling TV unit, after losing billions of dollars in the consumer electronics that catapulted Sony into a global brand.
Battered by stiff competition from lower-cost rivals from Taiwan and South Korea, Sony was also outmanoeuvred in smartphones by iPhone maker Apple and Samsung.
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