Published , by TJ Denzer
Published , by TJ Denzer
Sony has just completed a stock buyback program which began in April 2021. The company behind the PlayStation line of consoles just disclosed that as of April 28, 2022, it has finished a round of repurchases on its common stock amounting to 8,206,900 shares and 97,381,577,700 yen (around $745 million USD) in total.
Sony shared the full results and details of its stock buyback program in a formal filing on its investor relations website on May 2, 2022. According to the filing, Sony completed a stock buyback period which began as the result of a Board of Directors-approved decision on April 28, 2021. Sony completed its buyback cycle on April 28, 2022, securing 8,206,900 shares of its common stock for the final price of around $745 million. Interestingly enough, Sony did not pursue the limits on this buyback period, which were reportedly set at around 200 billion yen.
Sony’s stock buyback finishes as the company’s stock is currently running at a low over the course of a year. Where it began at around $99 a share at the start of May 2021 and reached a high of nearly $134 a share around the time of January 2022, it currently sits at just under $85 per share as of the start of May 2022, as reported by Yahoo Finance.
The PlayStation company’s stock low could be contributed to a number of factors. For one, supply constraints continue to affect a number of tech industries, and Sony is no exception. The company has struggled to keep its new PlayStation 5 console on shelves due to the ongoing semiconductor famine, which tech experts are now saying could last as long as 2024. It has also followed other companies in suspending sales in Russia due to the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, which is cutting into business and sales for a lot of groups.
Despite this, PlayStation has a number of promising prospects on the horizon between matters like the incoming PS Plus subscription revamp and the development of the PlayStation VR2 headset, despite the latter being delayed to 2023. Sony Pictures also continues to fire on all cylinders with productions like the Uncharted film starring Tom Holland, the Spider-Man movies, and the Last of Us TV series coming to HBO Max.
The company may be down on its stock, but there’s a lot of reasons to be excited for the future of Sony. Either way, as it completes its stock buyback program, it will be interesting to see what comes next as Sony has indicated that it very likely intends to pursue further studio acquisitions.