分拆索尼不容易

????索尼公司（Sony）的暢銷電視品牌Bravia的意思是“兇猛、野蠻、狂野、野性十足的”。當索尼的高管考慮來自國外的最新收購要約時，他們的腦海中很可能就涌現出這些形容詞。這種收購對日本中規中矩的商業規則造成了很大沖擊。

????最近到底是哪家海外機構這么大膽，敢對日本公司下手呢？原來是美國的一家對沖基金。作為索尼最大的股東之一，它提出索尼應該剝離20%的娛樂業務，同時借助他們的基金重整旗鼓，大力發展目前業績不佳的電子消費品業務。這家基金公司就是Third Point。5月14日，該公司CEO丹尼爾?勒布在《紐約時報》（New York Times）上首度發表了一封致索尼總裁平井一夫的公開信。信中建議，索尼應將自己的搖錢樹——娛樂業務的15%到20%分拆上市。多年以來，分析師們一直認為這種建議哪怕不是那么勢在必行，也非常合理。受此刺激，索尼的股票應聲上漲。

????不過奇怪的是，日本方面對此并無回應。索尼只是發布了一份簡短的聲明，彬彬有禮地回絕了這一提議?？紤]到勒布先生對索尼有很大的控股權——他的基金擁有6400萬股索尼股票，相當于該公司6.5%的股權，索尼這種反應就不免讓人覺得有點驚訝了。平井在該聲明中稱：“娛樂業務對索尼實現增長至關重要，不會出售?！?/p>

????聲明結尾寫道：“我們希望在推行自己戰略的進程中，繼續與股東進行建設性對話?！辫b于日本長期以來不會容忍任何股東耍心眼，尤其是對那些一心想抓住機會大賺一票的外國股東更不例外，我們建議這個結尾最好寫成“只要你們和大多數日本股東一樣不聲不響，不提過多要求”。在日本，從來就沒有多少人會積極參與股東維權活動。

????這并不等于沒希望了。位于東京的Eurotechnology公司的杰哈德?法索爾表示：“勒布先生的提議確實來得有點突然，所以日本方面沒立即回應也并不奇怪。而且平井先生和勒布先生過去也不常會晤?！辈贿^法索爾先生也不清楚勒布到底能在多大程度上心想事成。他說：“他對索尼其實并沒有那么大的控股權。畢竟索尼和夏普（Sharp）還不太一樣。索尼沒有遇到夏普那樣大的問題，所以還沒被逼上絕路?！彼髂嶂荒芗南Ｍ谀切┩鈬鴶嚲终咦孕邢?，就像一直困擾索尼、虧損達八年之久的電視產品線一樣。

????不管怎么說，和外國股東之間的斗爭到最后幾乎總是對日本公司有利。六年前，Steel Partners提出了一項收購要約，要買下日本著名醬料巨頭Bull-Dog公司90%的股份。這家食品公司請來了援手，隨后采用了一個自殺式方案，從美國人的魔爪下殺出了一條活路。最后，日本法院判定這個自殺式方案有效。

????Sony's best selling TV, the Bravia, translates as "ferocious, savage, wild, untamed" -- the very adjectives that are probably on the minds of Sony executives as they consider the latest bid from gaijin, or outsiders, to upset the highly ordered decorum of doing business in Japan.

????The latest audacity aimed at Japan from beyond its shining seas? A U.S. hedge fund, one of Sony's (SNE) biggest shareholders, has proposed the firm should spin off up to 20% of its entertainment business and use the funds to revive and focus on its struggling electronics arm. In a May 14 letter to Sony President Kazuo Hirai, first published in the New York Times, Daniel Loeb, chief executive of hedge fund Third Point, suggested Sony take 15% to 20% of the entertainment unit, the one that makes Sony money, public. In the light of such counsel, which analysts have for years been calling on as sound if not essential, Sony shares are surging.

????Oddly the reaction in Japan has been muted, with Sony merely issuing a terse statement to politely and gently rebut the advice, although apparently it may have come as a recent surprise that Mr Loeb held such a large control -- his fund owns 64 million Sony shares, which is about a 6.5% stake in Sony. "The entertainment businesses are important contributors to Sony's growth and are not for sale," wrote Hirai in Sony's statement.

????It ends: "We look forward to continuing constructive dialogue with our shareholders as we pursue our strategy." A suggestion, given Japan's long history of not tolerating any shenanigans from shareholders, particularly foreigners with an eye out for the main chance, that would have better ended as "just as long as you are as quiet and undemanding as the average Japanese shareholder." Shareholder activism has never been much of a participating sport in Japan.

????But there is hope. "Mr Loeb's proposal certainly came out of the blue, so I am not surprised that there is no immediate response," says Gerhard Fasol of Tokyo-based Eurotechnology. "And Mr Hirai did meet Mr Loeb which was not always the case in the past." However Mr. Fasol is unsure just how far Mr. Loeb may get. "He does not have that much power over Sony. After all they are not like Sharp ," he says. "They don't have the same problems as Sharp so they don't have a gun to their heads." The hope must be that like the the other Bravia that is plaguing Sony -- its eight years of loss-making TVs -- the foreign meddlers might just disappear.

????Struggles with foreign shareholders have nearly always turned to favor Japanese companies, after all. Just six years ago when Steel Partners launched a tender offer for the 90% of a famous Japanese sauce maker, Bull-Dog, the food firm sought a white knight intervention and then a poison pill to save itself from an aggressive takeover bid from the Americans. Finally, Japanese courts voted in favor of the pill.