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08/01/2001 Archived Entry: "Sony, Yahoo Agree To Hold Hands"

InformationWeek > Digital Entertainment > Sony, Yahoo Agree To Hold Hands >

In a counter to AOL Time Warner, Yahoo Inc. and Sony Corp. revealed Tuesday a wide-ranging relationship that combines Sony's electronic devices and entertainment content with Yahoo's vast online audience and array of services. The two companies will develop a co-branded Web site, called Sony on My Yahoo, as well as cross-sell and promote each other's content, products, and services. Yahoo also will provide consulting services on the development of the Sony U.S. Group Portal, a unified online gateway for Sony. Terms of the agreement were not divulged.

While the two companies are far from merging, the relationship bears a similarity to the merger of AOL and Time Warner, which brought together AOL's online audience and technical know-how and Time Warner's content and distribution network. Howard Stringer, chairman and CEO of Sony Corp. of America, says Sony will capitalize on the technical expertise Yahoo brings to the relationship to access previously unavailable digital distribution channels. The companies declined to speculate on whether their relationship could deepen, but Stringer made it sound as if the two are inextricably tied. "We've been dating a long time," he says. "If this isn't an absolute marriage, we're certainly holding hands. What we learn and where we go, it's too early to tell."

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