Sony posts higher annual profit as music expands

The Tip Desk · August 9, 2026 · 2 min read

Higher attributable profit, expanding music sales and broadly steady film earnings marked Sony’s fiscal 2024 results.

Sony reported profit attributable to its shareholders of ¥1.1416 trillion, up ¥171.0 billion from the prior year; pretax profit rose ¥205.1 billion to ¥1.4737 trillion, while the effective income-tax rate declined to 21.3% from 22.7%.

Sony’s music segment recorded sales of ¥1.8426 trillion, an increase of ¥223.6 billion, including a ¥73.8 billion positive foreign-exchange effect; operating income increased ¥55.6 billion to ¥357.3 billion.

Music sales growth was driven by higher streaming income from recorded music and publishing, foreign-exchange effects, the consolidation of Eplus in visual media and platform operations, and increased live-event, merchandising and licensing income in recorded music.

Continued growth in music streaming, investment in music catalogues, and artist and songwriter development supported stable streaming income, while distribution and services for independent labels and artists also contributed to segment growth.

Sony’s film segment generated sales of ¥1.5059 trillion and operating income of ¥117.3 billion, both broadly unchanged from the preceding year; lower television-program deliveries following the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes and weaker Indian media-network subscription and advertising revenue were partly offset by higher Crunchyroll revenue and the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema acquisition.

The 2024 global economy maintained steady growth despite elevated geopolitical risks, aided by lower inflation and related monetary easing; the yen exchange rate fluctuated substantially for a second consecutive year amid the interest-rate gap between the United States and Japan.

Sony’s three-year plan targets average annual consolidated operating-profit growth of at least 10% and a cumulative consolidated operating margin of at least 10%, excluding the financial business; fiscal 2024 operating-profit growth on that basis was 23%, with a 10.6% operating margin.

Sony revised projected three-year cumulative operating cash flow from continuing operations to ¥4.8 trillion from ¥4.5 trillion, and plans to allocate ¥1.7 trillion to capital expenditure and ¥1.8 trillion to growth investments and flexible share repurchases.

Risks include evolving digital technologies and greater concentration among digital music distributors and distributors producing their own content, which could weaken demand for Sony-produced content or affect music pricing; there are also risks from renewed infectious-disease restrictions affecting production, supply chains, live events and cinema attendance.