On January 20, Hong Kong-listed TCL Electronics, in partnership with Sony, released an announcement that sent ripples across the consumer electronics industry. The announcement revealed that TCL Electronics and Sony will establish a joint venture to take over Sony's home entertainment business, with TCL holding a 51% stake and Sony holding 49% in the new company. Senior executives from both sides expressed their hope that the strategic cooperation would integrate the strengths and resources of both parties, bringing superior products and services to a broad user base. During trading on January 21, TCL Electronics' share price surged to a high of HK$12.92 per share, marking an increase of over 18% compared to the previous day's closing price. As an important TCL subsidiary serving end consumers, TCL Electronics has delivered impressive financial results in recent years. In a recently announced performance forecast, TCL Electronics stated that it expects its adjusted net profit attributable to shareholders for the previous year to be between approximately HK$2.33 billion and HK$2.57 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of about 45% to 60%. Data from Tonghuashun iFinD shows that the ultimate controller of TCL Electronics is TCL Industrial Holdings Co., Ltd. Furthermore, according to Tianyancha, Li Dongsheng is the ultimate beneficial owner of TCL Industrial Holdings Co., Ltd. It is worth noting that on January 19, another TCL-affiliated listed company, TCL Technology, announced that due to operational management needs, the company's Chairman, Li Dongsheng, would no longer concurrently serve as CEO, and nominated veteran executive Wang Cheng, born in the 1970s, to take over the role. It has been observed that in the "2025 Hurun Rich List" released last October, Li Dongsheng, the pivotal figure behind TCL, ranked 755th on the list with a fortune of 9.5 billion yuan, which represented a 19% increase compared to 2024.
TCL "Joins Hands" with Sony, Plans to Take Controlling Stake in Latter's TV Business According to a memorandum of intent signed by TCL Electronics and Sony, both parties agreed to engage in further discussions regarding future strategic cooperation in the home entertainment field. Reportedly, the two companies will form a joint venture to conduct integrated business operations globally, covering products including televisions and home audio systems, spanning from product development, design, and manufacturing to sales, logistics, and customer service. The parties plan to negotiate the execution of a legally binding definitive agreement by the end of March 2026. Subject to the signing of the definitive agreement and obtaining approvals from relevant regulatory authorities, among other conditions, the new company is expected to commence operations in April 2027. Based on the memorandum of intent, Sony agreed and committed that, from the date of the memorandum until March 31, 2026, it would not directly or indirectly initiate or participate in any discussions or negotiations with any third party regarding any transaction that is substantially similar or equivalent in scope and purpose to the potential transaction. In the future, the new company will fully leverage the advanced technologies, brand power, and supply chain operational management capabilities that Sony has cultivated over the long term in the audio-visual field. It will also integrate TCL's advanced display technologies, global scale advantages, comprehensive industrial layout, end-to-end cost efficiency, and vertical supply chain strengths to actively promote business development. Du Juan, Chairperson of the Board of TCL Electronics, stated, "We firmly believe that this strategic cooperation with Sony is an excellent opportunity for both parties to integrate their advantageous resources and jointly build a foundation for further business growth. In the future, through strategic business complementarity, shared technical experience, and deep operational synergy, we anticipate achieving brand elevation, enhanced economies of scale, and optimized supply chains, thereby providing customers with superior products and services." A source close to Sony informed a media outlet that "specific decision-making authority will reside with the newly established company in the future. As the new company is currently still in the discussion phase, operational details and plans cannot be disclosed publicly at this time." Furthermore, according to another media report, industry insiders indicated that this move signifies Sony handing over the dominant operational control of its once high-end market-leading TV business to TCL, thereby freeing itself from the burdens of heavy assets and cost pressures.
Why the "Mutual Attraction" Between TCL and Sony? As a premium Japanese TV brand in the minds of an older generation, Sony televisions have always been renowned for their high quality and performance. However, Sony's TV business today is not what it used to be. Public reports indicate that between 2003 and 2013, Sony's TV division experienced ten consecutive years of losses, with cumulative losses nearing 800 billion yen. Notably, at the end of 2011, Sony signed an agreement with Samsung to sell its 50% stake in the liquid crystal panel joint venture S-LCD to Samsung, making S-LCD a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung. This meant Sony completely lost its in-house LCD panel production capability and had to procure core TV components from companies like Samsung. In 2014, Sony spun off its TV business, establishing a 100% wholly-owned subsidiary to operate it. The company bet on the high-end TV market, gradually abandoning mid-to-low-end product lines and shifting its product structure towards higher value-added offerings. In the following years, Sony's TV business gradually extricated itself from losses and returned to a stable path. However, in recent years, the situation facing Sony's TV business remains challenging. According to financial reports released by Sony Group, from April to September last year, Sony's Display business revenue was approximately 237.738 billion yen, a year-on-year decline of over 20%, accounting for 4.15% of the company's total revenue. The Entertainment, Technology & Services segment, which includes the Display business, recorded a profit of 104.103 billion yen during the same period, also a decrease of over 20% year-on-year, making it the only division among the company's five major segments to experience a profit decline. Data from Sigmaintell shows that Sony's TV market share in 2025 was approximately 1.9%. Liang Zhenpeng, a senior industry economic observer, pointed out that Sony has long lost its core technological advantage in the home appliance sector, leading to a decline in product competitiveness. In contrast, domestic player TCL has seen its TV business flourish in recent years, achieving great success in the consumer market. By focusing on the integration of upstream panel manufacturing (CSOT) and complete set manufacturing, TCL Electronics has achieved极高的 cost control and efficient technology implementation. The 2025 interim report showed that in the first half of last year, TCL's global TV shipments reached 13.46 million units, a year-on-year increase of 7.6%. According to Omdia data, in the first half of last year, TCL's global TV shipment market share reached 14.2%, an increase of 0.9 percentage points year-on-year, firmly ranking second globally. During the same period, TCL's TV sales value market share reached 13.2%, an increase of 1.1 percentage points year-on-year, placing it among the top three globally and showing the largest market share increase among the top ten brands. Financially, in the first half of last year, TCL Electronics achieved revenue of HK$54.777 billion, a year-on-year increase of 20.41%; it recorded a net profit attributable to shareholders of HK$1.09 billion, a surge of 67.78% year-on-year. In the "2025 Annual Profit Alert" announced on January 18, TCL Electronics forecast that its full-year adjusted net profit attributable to shareholders would be between approximately HK$2.33 billion and HK$2.57 billion, representing a year-on-year increase of about 45% to 60%. In fact, TCL Electronics' profit growth is inseparable from the vigorous advancement of its two core strategies: "Globalization" and "Mid-to-High-End Transformation." The current cooperation between TCL Electronics and Sony will undoubtedly further strengthen this development strategy. Some analysts believe that, much like Sony's past cooperation with Samsung, Sony's influence and technical prowess in the high-end market can now similarly endorse TCL, thereby adding momentum to TCL's efforts to capture market share in the high-end TV segment. Meanwhile, Sony can extricate itself from the fiercely competitive global home appliance market and, by leveraging TCL's control over the upstream and downstream supply chain, achieve a better balance between efficient manufacturing, controllable costs, and extensive channels.
Rising and Falling Over 40 Years: Building a Consumer Electronics Empire Looking back at TCL's development path, its growth into a heavyweight occupying a pivotal position in the consumer electronics field is inseparable from the entrepreneurial choices of its key figure, Li Dongsheng. Public information shows that Li Dongsheng was born in 1957. In 1977, the nationwide reinstatement of the college entrance examination brought life-changing opportunities to countless people, and Li Dongsheng successfully seized this opportunity to enroll in the South China University of Technology. In 1982, upon graduating, Li Dongsheng gave up an assigned position in a government agency and resolutely joined a Huizhou-based home appliance company called TTK. "I thought since I studied engineering, staying in a government agency for a few years would let my specialty go to waste. I wanted to do something tangible, so I went to this joint venture. They had just started up, really needed people, offered opportunities to work, and foreign-funded enterprises also paid a bit more," Li Dongsheng later recalled. In 1985, TTK was renamed TCL, and TCL Communication was established, beginning its involvement in the telephone business. That same year, Li Dongsheng was appointed General Manager of TCL Communication. However, due to his relative lack of seniority, he was transferred from this position after only nine months. Li Dongsheng later reflected, "I was young and impulsive back then, lacking experience; I didn't handle the relationship with the foreign partner well, and the performance was also unsatisfactory." Nevertheless, his superiors still had high hopes for Li Dongsheng and gave him a new opportunity. In 1986, he was transferred to head the Introduction Department of the Huizhou Industrial Development Corporation, responsible for attracting investment from Hong Kong, temporarily stepping away from TCL. In 1989, Li Dongsheng returned to TCL, later becoming General Manager in 1993 and Group Chairman three years later. Upon taking office, he actively promoted corporate restructuring, successfully clearing institutional obstacles from TCL's development path and laying a solid foundation for the company's subsequent growth. TCL's globalization and internationalization journey began in 1999 when Li Dongsheng acquired a Hong Kong-owned TV factory in Vietnam. Within 18 months of entering the Vietnamese market, TCL turned a profit. After this initial taste of success, Li Dongsheng set his sights on broader markets. In 2004, TCL took a critical step in international mergers and acquisitions by successfully bringing Thomson's color TV business and Alcatel's mobile phone business under its wing. These two international acquisitions brought TCL global fame, and Li Dongsheng even graced the cover of Fortune magazine as a result. However, these very cross-border acquisitions also dragged TCL into difficulties for a period. At the time, Alcatel phones faced a price war from Nokia internationally, while TCL phones domestically struggled against the "random punches" of copycat phones. In 2015, TCL Communication suffered a huge loss of 900 million yuan, and today, TCL phones are scarcely seen in the domestic market. The failure of the Thomson acquisition stemmed from TCL's misjudgment of technological trends in the TV industry. At that time, Thomson's color TV technology patents were almost entirely concentrated in CRT technology. Shortly after the acquisition was completed, the TV product landscape rapidly transitioned to LCD TVs. Li Dongsheng realized they had essentially bought a pile of "scrap paper." "The difficulties and challenges were immense; we almost didn't survive," Li Dongsheng described that period as his "darkest hour." However, in hindsight, TCL did not come away empty-handed; it at least successfully entered the European market through Thomson. Furthermore, the Poland factory inherited from Thomson later became an important production base for TCL to serve the EU market. To break through the growth bottlenecks in the company's business development, Li Dongsheng later pushed for a new round of transformation at TCL. In 2019, TCL Corporation completed an asset restructuring, splitting into "TCL Technology" and "TCL Industrial." Currently, TCL Technology primarily focuses on developing its core businesses: semiconductor display, new energy photovoltaics, and semiconductor materials. TCL Industrial, on the other hand, concentrates on smart terminal businesses, mainly covering a full range of smart consumer electronics products and services including displays, smart home appliances, innovative businesses, and home internet. It also actively develops other businesses including environmental technology, industrial park operation, intelligent manufacturing, and industrial finance. Today, Li Dongsheng has become a capital magnate controlling multiple listed companies, including TCL Technology, TCL Electronics, TCL Zhonghuan, TCL Smart Home, and Tianjin Pulin. As of the market close on January 21, the total market capitalization of these five listed companies exceeded 180 billion yuan. It is noteworthy that on January 19, Li Dongsheng, approaching his seventies, handed over the significant responsibility of TCL Technology CEO to veteran executive Wang Cheng, born in the 1970s. This seasoned leader, who has dedicated nearly three decades to TCL, will now be fully responsible for the company's daily operational management, steering the giant ship of TCL Technology to continue forging ahead through the waves of the market.
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