SAMSUNG-LG-SONY(third largest) http://www.statista.com/statistics/267095/global-market-share-of-lcd-tv-manufacturers/
The TV business, which has racked up around 790 billion yen of losses over the past 10 years, has been one of the main contributors to persistent losses in Sony's flagship electronics division
Without the facility to produce its own LCD panels Sony found itself forced to buy in components from the likes of Samsung and Sharp. However, sourcing panels from third parties meant there was very little control over the main component of the product line and therefore picture quality. Buying in panels from other manufacturers also seriously impacted on costs and profitability just at the time when it needed to be really competitive to gain market share. High production costs and a strong Yen meant the company simply couldn’t compete and in 2011 it saw a massive 24% drop in TV sales.
So despite the huge task ahead, Sony is sticking to its strategy of producing larger TVs with the best-possible picture and sound quality, followed very closely by ease-of-use and good looks. To help it do this, Sony is going to spin off its TV division and turn it into a wholly-owned subsidiary run separately from the rest of the business. As result of its restructuring in both the PC and TV businesses, Sony expects to lay off around 5,000 employees by the end of the financial year (http://www.forbes.com/sites/marksparrow/2014/02/09/sony-spins-off-tv-business-in-bid-to-reconquer-market)
Sony plans to split the unit into a wholly owned subsidiary------------------------------------
Sony Visual Product – new unit . One of the primary objectives stated for the new company was to turn back profitability for Sony’s TV business, which was already slowly suffering a few years back from several financial and marketing difficulties. With a separate managing company, Sony hopes for a general positive financial turnaround,