Just last week the rumors swirled that Sony could be looking to sell off their VAIO business. One of the possible candidates was Lenovo which Sony has since denied. Then new rumors came about suggesting that the VAIO division would be bought out by a Japanese investment firm and as it turns out, those particular set of rumors were right. Sony has since announced that they will indeed be selling off their VAIO PC division to Japan Industrial Partners for an undisclosed sum of money. This deal will also see Sony stop the design and development of PC products, which Sony claims is due to the “drastic changes in the global PC industry,” as one of the reasons.
As it stands Sony is expected to now concentrate on their mobile lineup of smartphones and tablets while JIP will be taking control of their VAIO PC business. The deal is expected to conclude by the end of July, assuming that everything goes as planned. JIP also plans on keeping the VAIO lineup alive, although they will be limiting sales of VAIO computers in Japan, with Sony investing a 5% stake in JIP’s new company which will play home to the VAIO computers. Sony’s VAIO computers have typically been off the higher-end when it came to computers and usually came with rather sleek designs. We’re sure many will be sad to see it go – what do you guys think?