Sony reported to be interested in buying Ericsson out of Sony Ericsson

Sony is reported to be close to buying Ericsson out of their long-running mobile phone joint-venture, Sony Ericsson.

Citing people familiar with the matter, the Wall Street Journal said that Sony aims to integrate the smartphone operation with its businesses in tablets, hand-held game machines, and personal computers to save on costs and better synchronise development of mobile devices.

One of the people said talks are still ongoing. Negotiations between the two companies to unwind the venture have broken down in the past as the two sides struggled to reach an agreement over price, the people familiar with the matter added.

Analysts estimate that Ericsson’s stake could be valued between US$1.3 billion to US$1.7 billion.

The key advantage as seen from Sony’s perspective is that it can tie the smartphone portfolio with its other consumer devices and critically tap into its content division in much the same way that Apple was able to synchronise content with hardware.

Sony Ericsson was established in 2001.