Sony, which has struggled in the TV market for nearly a decade, has confirmed it will not bid for Warner Bros.

Discovery, as the Japanese electronics and entertainment giant begins rolling out new RGB LED TV technology that retailers are calling the best advancement they’ve seen in recent years.

“Right now, we don’t want to do a big Hollywood M&A deal,” Sony Group CEO Hiroki Totoki told Nikkei in a recent interview.

“We want to build a solid base in our strengths of anime and games.”

Warner Bros. Discovery, owner of CNN and the studio behind the Harry Potter films, announced Tuesday a strategic review to consider putting itself up for sale.

The company, suffering from weak earnings in its legacy television business, said it had already drawn interest from multiple parties.

Totoki dismissed the relevance of traditional Hollywood consolidation strategies.

“Simply adding together the current movie studios doesn’t strike me as leading to a big gain in profitability,” he said on the sidelines of the Paley International Council Summit.

Hollywood blockbusters have lost relevance as Netflix and other streaming services provide consumers new ways to watch movies without theatre tickets.

Sony Pictures Entertainment is instead positioning itself as a hub for video game and animated content.

“Unlike a big platform company for which scale is everything, SPE can choose its own way of establishing itself,” Totoki said.

Sony subsidiary Aniplex’s animated “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle” became the highest-grossing international movie of 2025 at the North American box office.

Anime offers extensive tie-in possibilities with Sony’s gaming and music businesses.

“The global market for anime is just dawning right now and will continue to grow by double digits for a while,” Totoki said.

“We are focused on growth markets.”

Rather than pursuing acquisitions, Sony is building cooperative relationships with content creators.

“Many of the publishers that own the original works are unlisted, and they are not easy investment targets,” Totoki explained.

“It’s important to have cooperative relationships that foster original works.”

Sony is creating a loose alliance through investments in content-rich players including Kadokawa and Bandai Namco Holdings, particularly as Netflix enters the Japanese anime market.

Sony experienced international deal setbacks in 2024.

A two-year effort to merge its Indian unit with Zee Entertainment Enterprises to create one of South Asia’s top broadcasters collapsed.

Sony also withdrew from contention for Paramount Global, eventually acquired by Skydance Media.

Sony’s pictures segment faces profit challenges.

Operating profit declined slightly in the year ended March 2025, while games/network services and music segments posted significant gains.

The pictures segment’s return on invested capital stands at 5.7%, compared to 18.5% for games/network services and 10.5% for music.

Sony targets average operating profit growth of at least 10% annually under its current medium-term plan.

Sony’s decision removes a potential major bidder from Warner Bros. Discovery’s sale process.

The company’s focus on anime and gaming rather than traditional Hollywood studios reflects broader shifts in entertainment consumption and profitability models.

Australian pricing and availability for Sony’s new RGB LED TV technology have not been announced.