SMV meaning in Business ?

Sony Music Entertainment, also known as just Sony Music, is an American global music company. Owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Corporation of America.

It was originally founded in 1929 as American Record Corporation and renamed as Columbia Recording Corporation in 1938, following its acquisition by the Columbia Broadcasting System. In 1966, the company was reorganized to become CBS Records, and Sony Corporation bought the company in 1988, renaming it under its current name in 1991. In 2004, Sony and Bertelsmann established a 50-50 joint venture known as Sony BMG, which transferred the businesses of Sony Music and Bertelsmann Music Group into one entity. However, in 2008, Sony acquired Bertelsmann's stake, and the company reverted to the Sony Music name shortly after; the buyout allowed Sony to acquire all of BMG's labels, which led to the relaunch of BMG, as BMG Rights Management. All of BMG's former labels (Arista, Jive, LaFace, J, etc.) would eventually be absorbed into RCA Records (also formerly owned by BMG) in 2011. Arista Records would later go on to be revived in 2018.

As of 2020, Sony Music Entertainment is the second largest of the "Big Three" record companies, behind Universal Music Group and followed by Warner Music Group. Its music publishing division Sony/ATV (now known as Sony Music Publishing) is the largest music publisher in the world. From 2009 to 2020, Sony owned 50% of Syco Entertainment, which operates some of the world's most successful reality TV formats, including Got Talent and The X Factor with Simon Cowell. Cowell acquired Sony's stake in 2020.

On July 17, 2019, Sony announced that Sony Music Entertainment and Sony/ATV would merge to become Sony Music Group. The merger was completed on August 1, 2019.