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The American Express Centurion Card , colloquially known as the Black Card , is a charge card issued by American Express . It is reserved for the company's wealthiest clients who meet certain net worth , credit quality, and spending requirements on its gateway card , the Platinum Card. The firm does not disclose the exact requirements to receive an invitation to carry the card. The Centurion Card is minted out of anodized titanium , laser -engraved, and accented with stainless steel . The card reports to credit bureaus and does not maintain a pre-set credit limit . It is considered a status symbol among the affluent, but otherwise has an uncompetitive rewards system when compared to other credit cards.

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119-494: In 1988, an article in The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported that an exclusive black American Express membership card that was never advertised had been discontinued a year earlier. The article claimed that during a trial run that lasted almost four years, the card "was held by an ultra-select group of consumers who numbered fewer than 1,000 around the world." Lee Middleton, a spokesman for American Express, confirmed

238-654: A 70 percent share of the market when it decided to pull the plug on the format in 2010. Sony still develops magnetic tape storage technologies along with IBM , and are one of only two manufacturers of Linear Tape-Open (LTO) cartridges. In 1998, Sony launched the Memory Stick format, the flash memory cards for use in Sony lines of digital cameras and portable music players. It has seen little support outside of Sony's own products, with Secure Digital cards (SD) commanding considerably greater popularity. Sony has made updates to

357-634: A Dow Jones share about ten years later. Under Barron ownership, Thomas F. Woodlock was editor of the Journal from 1902 to 1905. By the end of Woodlock's tenure, daily circulation for the Journal rose from 7,000 to 11,000. William Peter Hamilton became lead editorial writer in 1908, a time when the Journal began reflecting the views of Barron. Hamilton wrote what Scharff considered "daily sermons in support of free-market capitalism". Barron and his predecessors were credited with creating an atmosphere of fearless, independent financial reporting—a novelty in

476-449: A Super Famicom with a built-in CD-ROM drive, named the "Play Station" (also known as SNES-CD ). However, a day after the announcement at CES, Nintendo announced that it would be breaking its partnership with Sony, opting to go with Philips instead but using the same technology. The deal was broken by Nintendo after they were unable to come to an agreement on how revenue would be split between

595-483: A West Coast edition on October 21, 1929, The Wall Street Journal Pacific Coast Edition . The Pacific Coast Edition focused on California businesses and replicated some items from the regular Wall Street Journal ; however, its circulation never exceeded 3,000, and the Great Depression led numerous subscription cancellations. By 1931, Bernard Kilgore became news editor for The Wall Street Journal , having joined

714-491: A broader shift away from news content. On June 13, 2022, the Journal launched a product review website called Buy Side . The website remains free and has a distinct team from the Journal newsroom. In February 2024, the Journal laid off about 20 employees, primarily economics reporters based in Washington, D.C. Moving forward, those beats will be covered by the newspaper's New York-based business team. The next month

833-519: A century – always six columns, with the day's top stories in the first and sixth columns, "What's News" digest in the second and third, the "A-hed" feature story in the fourth (with 'hed' being jargon for headline ) and themed weekly reports in the fifth column  – the paper in 2007 decreased its broadsheet width from 15 to 12   inches while keeping the length at 22 3 ⁄ 4   inches, to save newsprint costs. News design consultant Mario Garcia collaborated on

952-751: A completely separate financial entity owned by Sony, so as to retain the project and maintain relationships with Philips for the MMCD development project (which helped lead to the creation of the DVD ) In 2021, the WIPO 's annual review of the World Intellectual Property Indicators report ranked Sony's as ninth in the world for the number of patent applications published under the PCT System . 1,793 patent applications were published by Sony during 2020. This position

1071-525: A dedicated concierge and travel agent ; complimentary companion airline tickets on international flights on selected airlines with the purchase of a full-fare ticket; personal shoppers at retailers such as Gucci , Escada , and Saks Fifth Avenue ; access to airport clubs ; first-class flight upgrades; membership in Sony 's Cierge personal shopping program and dozens of other elite club memberships. Hotel benefits include one free night, when at least one paid night

1190-546: A definitive merger agreement. The $ 5   billion sale added The Wall Street Journal to Rupert Murdoch 's news empire, which already included Fox News Channel , Fox Business Network , London's The Times , the New York Post , and the Fox flagship station WNYW (Channel 5) and MyNetworkTV flagship WWOR (Channel 9). On December 13, 2007, shareholders representing more than 60 percent of Dow Jones's voting stock approved

1309-430: A few weeks later amid further restructuring, including at least eight reporters. Since 1980, the Journal has been published in multiple sections. The Journal increased its maximum issue length to 96 pages, including up to 24 color pages, in 2002. With the industry-wide decline in advertising, the Journal in 2009–10 more typically published about 50 to 60 pages per issue. As of 2012 , The Wall Street Journal had

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1428-457: A focus on reducing the major losses from the television business. In February 2014, Sony announced the sale of its Vaio PC division to a new corporation owned by investment fund Japan Industrial Partners and spinning its TV division into its own corporation as to make it more nimble to turn the unit around from past losses totaling $ 7.8 billion over a decade. Later that month, they announced that they would be closing 20 stores. In April,

1547-513: A format war with DVD-Audio . Still, neither gained a major foothold with the general public. CDs had been preferred by consumers because of the ubiquitous presence of CD drives in consumer devices until the early 2000s when the iPod and streaming services became available. In 2015, Sony introduced LDAC , a proprietary audio coding technology which allows streaming high-resolution audio over Bluetooth connections at up to 990 kbit/s at 32 bit/96 kHz. Sony also contributed it as part of

1666-576: A global news staff of around 2,000 journalists in 85 news bureaus across 51 countries. As of 2012 , it had 26 printing plants. Its Asia headquarters is in Hong Kong, but will move to Singapore after it stated it would do so in 2024. Regularly scheduled sections are: In addition, several columnists contribute regular features to the Journal opinion page: Sony Sony Group Corporation (formerly Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K. and Sony Corporation )

1785-463: A jet." The website lists unverified descriptions of cardholder requests, such as dispatching a motorcycle rider to the shores of the Dead Sea to retrieve a handful of sand and couriering it back to London for a child's school project. In 2009, Luxury Card successfully registered "Black Card" as a U.S. trademark . American Express later sued as the name was similar to its Centurion Card, which it contended

1904-399: A life insurance company in 1979, one of its many peripheral businesses. Amid a global recession in the early 1980s, electronics sales dropped and the company was forced to cut prices. Sony's profits fell sharply. "It's over for Sony", one analyst concluded. "The company's best days are behind it." Around that time, Norio Ohga took up the role of president. He encouraged the development of

2023-517: A luxury lifestyle magazine, was launched in 2008. A complement to the print newspaper, The Wall Street Journal Online , was launched in 1996 and has allowed access only by subscription from the beginning. A weekly (later daily) crossword edited by Mike Shenk was introduced in 1998. In 2003, Dow Jones began to integrate reporting of the Journal 's print and online subscribers together in Audit Bureau of Circulations statements. In 2007, it

2142-624: A major expansion outside of the United States ultimately placing its journalists in every major financial center in Europe , Asia , Latin America , Australia , and Africa . In 1970, Dow Jones bought the Ottaway newspaper chain, which at the time comprised nine dailies and three Sunday newspapers. Later, the name was changed to Dow Jones Local Media Group . The first strike affecting a Journal printing plant

2261-424: A method of illustration considered a consistent visual signature of the paper. the Journal still heavily employs the use of caricatures , including those by illustrator Ken Fallin , such as when Peggy Noonan memorialized then-recently deceased newsman Tim Russert . The use of color photographs and graphics has become increasingly common in recent years with the addition of more "lifestyle" sections. The daily

2380-563: A powerful exporter during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, supplying the U.S. Military with bomb parts used in the Vietnam War . It also helped to significantly improve American perceptions of "made in Japan" products. Known for its production quality, Sony was able to charge above-market prices for its consumer electronics and resisted lowering prices. In 1971, Masaru Ibuka handed the position of president over to his co-founder Akio Morita. Sony began

2499-557: A recommendation of Collis Potter Huntington , Dow and Jones co-founded their own news service, Dow Jones and Company , with fellow Kiernan reporter Charles Bergstresser . Dow Jones was headquartered in the basement of 15 Wall Street, the same building as Kiernan's company next to the New York Stock Exchange Building . The first products of Dow Jones & Company , the publisher of the Journal , were brief news bulletins, nicknamed flimsies , hand-delivered throughout

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2618-462: A rumor. It doesn't exist." He said, "But you know what? It's not a bad idea." Doug Smith, the director of American Express in Europe, told the fact-checking website Snopes.com that there "had been rumors going around that we had this ultra-exclusive black card for elite customers. It wasn't true, but we decided to capitalize on the idea anyway. So far we've had a customer buy a Bentley and another charter

2737-731: A slogan known as "make.believe" in 2009. Despite some successes, the company faced continued struggles in the mid- to late-2000s. In 2012, Kazuo Hirai was promoted to president and CEO, replacing Stringer. Shortly thereafter, Hirai outlined his company-wide initiative, named "One Sony" to revive Sony from years of financial losses and bureaucratic management structure, which proved difficult for former CEO Stringer to accomplish, partly due to differences in business culture and native languages between Stringer and some of Sony's Japanese divisions and subsidiaries. Hirai outlined three major areas of focus for Sony's electronics business, which include imaging technology, gaming and mobile technology, as well as

2856-414: A specific American Express product. The Centurion card has been used as an on-screen prop. In Quantum of Solace , James Bond hands a Centurion card to a travel agent with a private jet chartering company to pay for a flight to Bolivia. The payment is declined by MI6 as the intelligence service seeks to strip Bond of his duties and revokes his credit cards and passports. The Centurion replica used in

2975-495: A subscription model, requiring readers to pay for access to its articles and content. The Journal is published six days a week by Dow Jones & Company , a division of News Corp . The first issue was published on July 8, 1889. As of 2023, the Wall Street Journal  is the largest newspaper in the United States by print circulation , with 609,650 print subscribers. It has 3.17 million digital subscribers,

3094-573: A television of at least 55 inches (140 centimeters) with a price higher than $ 2,500 as well as second largest TV brand by market share and, as of 2020, the third largest television manufacturer in the world by annual sales figures. Although not being a part of any traditional keiretsu , Sony has a weak tie to the Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG), which traces its roots to the Mitsui zaibatsu . This connection dates back to

3213-540: A week from New York for the Journal . Then in 1934, Kilgore began writing a daily news digest "What's News" for the Journal front page. Kilgore's writings attracted the attention of the White House; President Franklin D. Roosevelt publicly recommended Kilgore's work about pension payments for World War I veterans and a Supreme Court decision on the National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 . However,

3332-570: A wholly owned subsidiary through a takeover bid. On 1 April 2021, Sony Corporation was renamed Sony Group Corporation. On the same day, Sony Mobile Communications Inc. absorbed Sony Electronics Corporation, Sony Imaging Products & Solutions Inc., and Sony Home Entertainment & Sound Products Inc. and changed its trade name to Sony Corporation. Sony has historically been notable for creating its own in-house standards for new recording and storage technologies, instead of adopting those of other manufacturers and standards bodies, while its success in

3451-524: Is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Minato, Tokyo , Japan. The Sony Group comprises entities such as Sony Corporation , Sony Semiconductor Solutions , Sony Entertainment (including Sony Pictures and Sony Music Group ), Sony Interactive Entertainment , Sony Financial Group , and others. Sony was established in 1946 as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita . This electronics company, known for creating products such as

3570-550: Is also sent to all Platinum Card cardholders. In 2004, American Express Centurion members in the US began receiving an exclusive "no name" magazine, which was not available by any other means. Starting with the Spring 2007 edition, this magazine was officially titled Black Ink . The magazine is available only to individual Centurion cardholders, not to the business-edition customers. European, Asian, and Australian Centurion members receive quarterly

3689-728: Is booked during the same stay, in every Mandarin Oriental hotel worldwide once a year (except for the New York City property), and privileges at hotel chains like Ritz-Carlton , Leading Hotels of the World , and Amanresorts . The card also features complimentary enrollment in Easirent Car Hire Platinum Service and the Avis Rent a Car President's Club. Centurion Card members, like Platinum Card members, get complimentary access to

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3808-501: Is largely offered in two forms, either chips embedded in smartphones or plastic cards with chips embedded in them. Sony plans to implement this technology in train systems across Asia. In 2019, Sony launched the ELTRES, the company's proprietary low-power wide-area wireless communication ( LPWAN ) standard. Until 1991, Sony had little direct involvement with the video game industry. The company supplied components for other consoles, such as

3927-413: Is often considered to be a status symbol . The card is commonly associated with celebrities and the rich and famous. The card has been frequently referenced in: music, film, television, literature, and video games. American Express does not disclose a list of Centurion cardholders, but a number of public figures have been associated with the card, including: Artists often make explicit references to

4046-443: Is organized into the following business segments: Game & Network Services (G&NS), Music, Pictures, Electronics Products & Solutions (EP&S), Imaging & Sensing Solutions (I&SS), Financial Services, and Others. Usually, each business segment has a handful of corresponding intermediate holding companies under which all the related businesses are folded into, such as Columbia Records being part of Sony Music Group ,

4165-573: Is up from their previous ranking as 13th in 2019 with 1,566 applications. Best known for its electronic products, Sony offers a wide variety of product lines in many areas. At its peak, it was dubbed as a "corporate octopus", for its sprawling ventures from private insurance to chemicals to cosmetics to home shopping to a Tokyo-based French food joint, in addition its core businesses such as electronics and entertainment. Even after it has unwound many business units including Sony Chemicals and Vaio PC, Sony still runs diverse businesses. As of 2020, Sony

4284-526: Is wealthy and has more than enough money to last the rest of his life. In the intro of Far Cry 3 , protagonist's friend Oliver Carswell shouts: "To my father's black card to my black card!" The Wall Street Journal The Wall Street Journal ( WSJ ), also referred to simply as the Journal , is an American newspaper based in New York City , with a focus on business and finance. It operates on

4403-743: The Centurion magazine published by Journal International GmbH (Munich, Germany). In June 2011, the Centurion magazine website was launched, offering daily updates for Centurion Card members. According to Journal International, the average age of a Centurion reader from Europe or the Middle East is 49 years. Centurion has been published since 2001 and has a circulation in Europe and the Middle East of 44,100; in Asia of 13,900; and in Australia of 6,000. The Centurion card

4522-567: The ATRAC brand, against the more widely used MP3. Until late 2004, Sony's Network Walkman line of digital portable music players did not support the MP3 standard natively. In 2004, Sony built upon the MiniDisc format by releasing Hi-MD . Hi-MD allows the playback and recording of audio on newly introduced 1 GB Hi-MD discs in addition to playback and recording on regular MiniDiscs. In addition to saving audio on

4641-795: The Android Open Source Project starting from Android 8.0 " Oreo ", enabling every OEM to integrate this standard into their own Android devices freely. However the decoder library is proprietary , so receiving devices require licenses. On 17 September 2019, the Japan Audio Society (JAS) certified LDAC with their Hi-Res Audio Wireless certification. Currently the only codecs with the Hi-Res Audio Wireless certification are LDAC and LHDC , another competing standard. Sony demonstrated an optical digital audio disc in 1977 and soon joined hands with Philips, another major contender for

4760-613: The Crystal LED Display. Sony used the Compact Cassette format in many of its tape recorders and players, including the Walkman , the world's first portable music player. Sony introduced the MiniDisc format in 1992 as an alternative to Philips DCC or Digital Compact Cassette and as a successor to the Compact Cassette. Since the introduction of MiniDisc, Sony has attempted to promote its own audio compression technologies under

4879-512: The Dow theory . Scharff regarded Dow's essays from 1899 to 1902 as "stock market classics". In the months before passing in 1902, Dow arranged to sell Dow Jones and the Journal to Clarence W. Barron , Boston correspondent for the Journal since 1889, for $ 130,000 (equivalent to $ 4,578,000 in 2023). Because Barron had financial difficulties, his wife Jessie Waldron Barron made the $ 2,500 down payment to buy Dow Jones in 1902; Clarence would first own

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4998-637: The ExpressPay contactless payment technology, are issued. The Centurion Card comes in personal and business variants and with a Prada wearable The largest known purchase made with the Centurion card is the Nu couché painting by Amedeo Modigliani , which businessman Liu Yiqian bought for US$ 170,405,000 at a Christie's auction in New York in 2015. The card, available for personal and business use, offers services such as

5117-515: The Great Depression in the United States . Barron's descendants, the Bancroft family , would continue to control the company until 2007. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 would be yet another challenge to the Journal on top of Barron's death. William Peter Hamilton died of pneumonia on December 9, 1929, aged 63. Circulation of the Journal , having surpassed 50,000 in 1928, dropped below 28,000 in

5236-539: The Journal began publishing two separate Dow Jones stock indicies, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Dow Jones Railroad Average . The first morning edition of the Journal was published on November 14, 1898. By the late 1890s, daily circulation reached 7,000. Charles Dow wrote the first "Review and Outlook" column on April 21, 1899, a front-page editorial column explaining stock prices in terms of human nature; Dow's thinking would later be known as

5355-479: The Journal continued to struggle financially, with circulation stagnant at 32,000 in 1940. Most editions were only 12 to 14 pages long, and Dow Jones made only $ 69,000 of profits on $ 2 million of revenue, mostly due to its news ticker. Scharff observed a lack of coverage about a possible U.S. role in World War II . In the 1940s, Dow Jones took steps to restructure the Journal . Kilgore was named managing editor of

5474-529: The Journal copy desk in 1929. He began writing a column for the Pacific Coast Edition called "Dear George", a feature explaining obscure financial topics in simpler, plain rhetoric. "Dear George" sharply contrasted with other Wall Street Journal articles that relied on jargon that was incomprehensible even to its own reporters. The Eastern edition of the Journal began carrying "Dear George", and beginning in 1932, Kilgore wrote "Dear George" three times

5593-613: The Journal had not yet entered popular understanding. The first major journalism award for the Journal was a Sigma Delta Chi public service award, for stories in late 1952 exposing links between Empire Mail Order and organized crime. These stories followed news that Howard Hughes sold RKO Pictures to Empire Mail Order. Circulation of the Journal continued increasing throughout the 1950s, to 205,000 in 1951, 400,000 in 1955, and over 500,000 by 1957. Warren H. Phillips became managing editor of The Wall Street Journal in 1957 after being promoted from Chicago bureau manager. Phillips

5712-561: The Journal in 1941 and Dow Jones CEO in 1945. Scharff described Kilgore's approach to journalism: "A Journal story had to satisfy its sophisticated readership, but it also had to be clear enough not to discourage neophytes." Additionally, Kilgore aimed to have the newspaper appeal to a national audience, by making the East Coast and West Coast editions of the Journal more homogeneous. Until printing presses and reporting bureaus could be opened on location, photographs could not be included in

5831-433: The Journal launched a weekend edition, delivered to all subscribers, which marked a return to Saturday publication after a lapse of some 50 years. The move was designed in part to attract more consumer advertising. In 2005, the Journal reported a readership profile of about 60 percent top management, an average income of $ 191,000, an average household net worth of $ 2.1   million, and an average age of 55. In 2007,

5950-523: The Journal launched a worldwide expansion of its website to include major foreign-language editions. The paper had also shown an interest in buying the rival Financial Times . The nameplate is unique in having a period at the end. Front-page advertising in the Journal was re-introduced on September 5, 2006. This followed similar introductions in the European and Asian editions in late 2005. After presenting nearly identical front-page layouts for half

6069-419: The Journal to charge similarly inflated advertising rates, as the advertisers would think that they reached more readers than they actually did. In addition, the Journal agreed to run "articles" featuring Executive Learning Partnership, presented as news, but effectively advertising. The case came to light after a Belgian Wall Street Journal employee, Gert Van Mol , informed Dow Jones CEO Les Hinton about

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6188-593: The Journal was four pages long, with dimensions of 20 3/4 × 15 1/2 inches and cost of $ 0.02 per copy. In its early days, the Journal had "a tedious, blow-by-blow account of the day's business without benefit of editing," wrote Edward E. Scharff in 1986. For nearly 40 years, the front page had a four-column format, with the middle two devoted to news briefs and the farther two filled with advertisements for brokerage services. The Journal focused on stories from news wires and listings of stocks and bonds, while occasionally covering sports or politics. One front-page story on

6307-608: The Journal . In 1947 , the paper won its first Pulitzer Prize for William Henry Grimes's editorials . Also in May 1947, the Journal launched a Southwest edition based in Dallas . The newspaper also added a new slogan in 1949: "Everywhere, Men Who Get Ahead in Business Read The Wall Street Journal ." Circulation grew by nearly four-fold, from 32,000 in 1940 to 140,000 in 1949; however, Kilgore's editorial reforms of

6426-490: The Little Rock Central High School integration crisis went beyond the largely visual, emotional elements on newspapers and television, in depicting local citizens as supportive of integration in contrast to Governor Orval Faubus and other local politicians. During the 1962–1963 New York City newspaper strike , the Journal was the only daily newspaper to continue printing in New York City; however, after

6545-523: The Video8 format . Video8 and the follow-on hi-band Hi8 format became popular in the consumer camcorder market. In 1987 Sony launched the 4 mm DAT or Digital Audio Tape as a new digital audio tape standard. Sony held a patent for its proprietary Trinitron until 1996. Sony introduced the Triluminos Display, the company's proprietary color reproduction enhancing technology, in 2004, featured in

6664-441: The 1930s, and the newspaper downsized from 28 to 16 pages in the 1930s as well. Dow Jones president Hugh Bancroft retired in 1932; following his death in 1933, his widow Jane Waldron Bancroft appointed Kenneth Craven "Casey" Hogate as new company president. Hogate envisioned expanding the scope of the Journal to a "more general business paper" beyond stock and bond numbers. Expanding westward, The Wall Street Journal debuted

6783-580: The 1950s when it was the only bank the company dealt with. Sony is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (in which it is a constituent of the Nikkei 225 and TOPIX Core30 indeces) with an additional listing in the form of American depositary receipts listed in the New York Stock Exchange (traded since 1961, making it one of the oldest Japanese company to be listed on an American exchange), and

6902-602: The American Express Centurion Lounges at several US airports. They also get no pre-set credit limit, access to Priority Pass lounges around the world, plus additional lounge privileges based on the country their card is registered in. For example, Centurion cardholders in Canada also receive full access to Maple Leaf Lounges, a lounge network provided by Air Canada. At busy times, Centurion members have access to areas reserved for them. There are also drink options at

7021-511: The Memory Stick format with Memory Stick Duo and Memory Stick Micro . The company has also released USB flash drive products, branded under the Micro Vault line. Sony introduced FeliCa , a contactless IC card technology primarily used in contactless payment , as a result of the company's joint development and commercialization of Near-Field Communication (NFC) with Philips. The standard

7140-406: The U.S. market and launched the new industry of consumer microelectronics." By the mid-1950s, American teens had begun buying portable transistor radios in huge numbers, helping to propel the fledgling industry from an estimated 100,000 units in 1955 to 5 million units by the end of 1968. Sony co-founder Akio Morita founded Sony Corporation of America in 1960. In the process, he was struck by

7259-427: The bar that are exclusive to Centurion members. As of 2015, they have a Champagne option of Veuve Clicquot and a single malt scotch by Balvenie . US cardholders earn 1 rewards point per dollar on all eligible purchases and 1.5 rewards points per dollar on purchases over US$ 5,000 (up to 1 million additional points per calendar year). Since the inception of the card, members have received a copy of Departures , which

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7378-460: The black card in 1987 because the newly introduced Platinum Card offered "95% of the black card's services." In 1999, American Express introduced the Centurion Card, a black charge card aimed at the company's wealthiest cardholders. Jerry Seinfeld claimed to be the first person to receive a Centurion Card, after contacting the company's president about the rumored existence of the black card. I

7497-412: The board. Eventually, Sony President Ohga decided to retain the project after being reminded by Kutaragi of the humiliation he suffered from Nintendo. Nevertheless, due to strong opposition from a majority present at the meeting as well as widespread internal opposition to the project by the older generation of Sony executives, Kutaragi and his team had to be shifted from Sony's headquarters to Sony Music ,

7616-463: The card's existence to the Journal and said that it was given to clients who had a "substantial banking relationship" with American Express Bank Ltd., the New York parent of American Express's bank subsidiaries in Switzerland. Services included "dispatching limousines or helicopters for clients, booking their vacations and finding medical care in exotic places." Middleton said American Express abandoned

7735-459: The card. In the song "Last Call" (2004), Kanye West refers to the card with the lyrics: "I went to the malls and I balled too hard / 'Oh my God, is that a black card?' / I turned around and replied, 'Why yes / But I prefer the term African American Express'". Singers including Ariana Grande , Beyoncé , Jay-Z , Lady Gaga , Bow Wow , Nelly Furtado , Lil Wayne , and Nickelback , among others, also mention black cards in their song lyrics but not

7854-554: The changes. Dow Jones said it would save $ 18   million a year in newsprint costs across all The Wall Street Journal papers. This move eliminated one column of print, pushing the "A-hed" out of its traditional location (though the paper now usually includes a quirky feature story on the right side of the front page, sandwiched among the lead stories). The paper uses ink dot drawings called hedcuts , introduced in 1979 and originally created by Kevin Sprouls , in addition to photographs,

7973-643: The committee said that News Corporation had violated its agreement by not notifying the committee earlier. However, Brauchli said he believed that new owners should appoint their own editor. A 2007 Journal article quoted charges that Murdoch had made and broken similar promises in the past. One large shareholder commented that Murdoch has long "expressed his personal, political and business biases through his newspapers and television stations". Former Times assistant editor Fred Emery remembers an incident when "Mr. Murdoch called him into his office in March 1982 and said he

8092-490: The compact disc (CD) in the 1970s and 1980s, and of the PlayStation in the early 1990s. Ohga went on to purchase CBS Records in 1988 and Columbia Pictures in 1989, greatly expanding Sony's media presence. Ohga would succeed Morita as chief executive officer in 1989. Under the vision of co-founder Akio Morita and his successors, the company had aggressively expanded into new businesses. Part of its motivation for doing so

8211-562: The company announced that they would be selling 9.5 million shares in Square Enix (roughly 8.2 percent of the game company's total shares) in a deal worth approximately $ 48 million. In May 2014 the company announced it was forming two joint ventures with Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group to manufacture and market Sony's PlayStation game consoles and associated software in China. In 2015, Sony purchased Toshiba's image sensor business. It

8330-510: The company uses to identify potential cardholders has been subject to speculation. Select media reports speculate an annual spending requirement of $ 500,000 to $ 1,000,000 on the Platinum Card to be considered for eligibility. In most countries where the card is issued, it is made of anodized titanium with the information and numbers laser etched into the metal. In some locations, such as Israel, EMV "chip" plastic cards , which also include

8449-500: The company's acquisition by News Corporation. In an editorial page column, publisher L. Gordon Crovitz said the Bancrofts and News Corporation had agreed that the Journal ' s news and opinion sections would preserve their editorial independence from their new corporate parent. A special committee was established to oversee the paper's editorial integrity. When the managing editor Marcus Brauchli resigned on April 22, 2008,

8568-425: The company's struggling media businesses, encouraging blockbusters such as Spider-Man while cutting 9,000 jobs. He hoped to sell off peripheral business and focus the company again on electronics. Furthermore, he aimed to increase cooperation between business units, which he described as "silos" operating in isolation from one another. In a bid to provide a unified brand for its global operations, Sony introduced

8687-518: The day to traders at the stock exchange . Beginning in 1883, they were aggregated in a printed daily summary called the Customers' Afternoon Letter , sold for $ 1.50 per month compared to the $ 15 a month Dow Jones bulletin service. Dow Jones opened its own printing press at 71 Broadway in 1885. Beginning July 8, 1889, the Afternoon Letter was renamed The Wall Street Journal . The debut issue of

8806-591: The debut edition of The Wall Street Journal was a raw wire report about the boxing match between John L. Sullivan and Jake Kilrain , with varying accounts of the fight citing The Boston Globe , the Baltimore American , and anonymous sources. Seldom did The Wall Street Journal publish analysis or opinion articles in its early decades. In addition to a private wire to Boston, the Journal had reporters communicate via telegraph from Washington, Philadelphia, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Albany , and London. In 1896,

8925-462: The discs, Hi-MD allows the storage of computer files such as documents, videos and photos. In 1993, Sony challenged the industry standard Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound format with a newer and more advanced proprietary motion picture digital audio format called SDDS (Sony Dynamic Digital Sound). This format employed eight channels (7.1) of audio opposed to just six used in Dolby Digital 5.1 at

9044-488: The early days of business journalism . In 1921, Barron's , the United States's premier financial weekly, was founded. Scharff described the newspaper in the Barron era as "Wall Street's public defender" against regulatory efforts by the U.S. Congress. Circulation continued to rise, reaching 18,750 to 1920 and 52,000 briefly in 1928. Barron died in 1928, a year before Black Tuesday , the stock market crash that greatly affected

9163-477: The early years owes to a smooth capitalization on the Digital Compact Cassette standard introduced by Philips , with which Sony went on to enjoy a decades-long technological relationship in various areas. Sony (either alone or with partners) has introduced several of the most popular recording formats, including the 3.5-inch floppy disk , compact disc and Blu-ray disc. Sony introduced U-matic ,

9282-468: The film studio. According to one report, Sony was set to make a final decision on the possibility of the merger of the TV, film, & gaming businesses by the end of its fiscal year in March of the following year (2017). In 2017, Sony sold its lithium-ion battery business to Murata Manufacturing . In 2019, Sony merged its mobile, TV and camera businesses. On 1 April 2020, Sony Electronics Corporation

9401-605: The film was part of the Bond in Motion exhibition at the London Film Museum . In two episodes of the HBO comedy-drama show Succession , Kendall and Siobhan Roy, heirs to a media fortune, use their Centurion cards at a bar and a coffee shop. In Lauren Weisberger 's novel Everyone Worth Knowing , the protagonist Bette remarks on her coworker paying for dinner with the card: "There it was,

9520-424: The financial sector. In 2021, Sony transformed into a holding company, handing over the name Sony Corporation to its subsidiary as the electronics company. Sony, with its 55 percent market share in the image sensor market, is the largest manufacturer of image sensors, the second largest camera manufacturer, and is among the semiconductor sales leaders. It is the world's largest player in the premium TV market for

9639-475: The former "Business & Tech" and "Money & Investing" sections. The new "Life & Arts" section took the place of "Personal Journal" and "Arena". In addition, the Journal 's "Greater New York" coverage was reduced and moved to the main section of paper. The section was shuttered on July 9, 2021. A 2018 survey conducted by Gallup and the Knight Foundation found that The Wall Street Journal

9758-490: The global market, which required labeling their products with a short and easy brand name. While looking for a romanized name, they at first strongly considered using their initials, TTK. The primary reason they did not is that the railway company Tokyo Kyuko was known as TTK. The company occasionally used the syllabic acronym "Totsuko" in Japan, but during his visit to the United States, Morita discovered that Americans had trouble pronouncing that name. Another early name that

9877-513: The marketbase and became the worldwide standard for consumer VCRs. Betamax is, for all practical purposes, an obsolete format. Sony's professional-oriented component video format called Betacam , which was derived from Betamax, was used until 2016 when Sony announced it was stopping production of all remaining 1/2-inch video tape recorders and players, including the Digital Betacam format. In 1985, Sony launched their Handycam products and

9996-420: The mobility of employees between American companies, which was unheard of in Japan at that time. When he returned to Japan, he encouraged experienced, middle-aged employees of other companies to reevaluate their careers and consider joining Sony. The company filled many positions in this manner, and inspired other Japanese companies to do the same. Moreover, Sony played a major role in the development of Japan as

10115-402: The mythical American Express black card. Available by invitation only to those who charged a minimum of $ 150,000 per year." In Street Fighter 6 ' s World Tour mode, Ryu reveals to the player character in a conversation that he has a black card given to him by Ken Masters, which holds money he's earned from winning tournaments, guest appearances, and solving local crises. It turns out that Ryu

10234-516: The paper laid off another five people from its standards and ethics team. In April, the paper laid off at least 11 people from its video and social media desks. In May, the Journal cut six editorial staff positions from its Hong Kong bureau and another two reporter jobs in Singapore . Moving forward the paper will shift its focus in the region from Hong Kong to Singapore with new the creation of several new jobs at that bureau. More staff were laid off

10353-402: The paper's "combination of respected news pages and conservative editorial pages seem to be a magic formula for generating trust across the ideological spectrum." From 2019 through 2022, the Journal partnered with Facebook to provide content for the social-media site's "News Tab". Facebook paid the Journal in excess of $ 10 million during that period, terminating the relationship as part of

10472-530: The print edition. By June 2013, the monthly cost for a subscription to the online edition was $ 22.99, or $ 275.88 annually, excluding introductory offers. Digital subscription rates increased dramatically to $ 443.88 per year as its popularity increased over print, with first-time subscribers paying $ 187.20 per year. On November 30, 2004, Oasys Mobile and The Wall Street Journal released an app that would allow users to access content from The Wall Street Journal Online via their mobile phones. In September 2005,

10591-400: The questionable practice. As a result, the then Wall Street Journal Europe CEO and Publisher Andrew Langhoff was fired after it was found out he personally pressured journalists into covering one of the newspaper's business partners involved in the issue. Since September 2011, all the online articles that resulted from the ethical wrongdoing carry a Wall Street Journal disclaimer informing

10710-431: The readers about the circumstances in which they were created. The Journal , along with its parent Dow Jones & Company, was among the businesses News Corporation spun off in 2013 as the new News Corp . In November 2016, in an effort to cut costs, the Journal 's editor-in-chief, Gerard Baker , announced layoffs of staff and consolidation of its print sections. The new "Business & Finance" section combined

10829-558: The second-most in the nation after The New York Times . WSJ publishes international editions in various regions around the world, including Europe and Asia. The editorial pages of the Journal are typically center-right in their positions. The newspaper has won 39 Pulitzer Prizes . A predecessor to The Wall Street Journal was the Kiernan News Agency founded by John J. Kiernan in 1869. In 1880, Kiernan hired Charles H. Dow and Edward D. Jones as reporters. On

10948-633: The sound chip for the Super Famicom from Nintendo , and operated a video game studio, Sony Imagesoft . As part of a joint project between Nintendo and Sony that began as early as 1988, the two companies worked to create a CD-ROM version of the Super Famicom, though Nintendo denied the existence of the Sony deal as late as March 1991. At the Consumer Electronics Show in June 1991, Sony revealed

11067-580: The specific use of archival data storage, in 1986 and 1988 respectively. In the early 1990s, two high-density optical storage standards were being developed: one was the MultiMedia Compact Disc (MMCD), backed by Philips and Sony, and the other was the Super Density Disc (SD), supported by Toshiba and many others. Philips and Sony abandoned their MMCD format and agreed upon Toshiba's SD format with only one modification. The unified disc format

11186-556: The storage technology, to establish a worldwide standard. In 1983, the two company jointly announced the Compact Disc (CD). In 1984, Sony launched the Discman series, an expansion of the Walkman brand to portable CD players. Sony began to improve performance and capacity of the novel format. It launched write-once optical discs (WO) and magneto-optical discs which were around 125MB size for

11305-405: The strike, Kilgore ordered the printing presses moved from New York to Chicopee, Massachusetts effective July 1, 1963. Although Kilgore did not publicly explain his rationale then, Scharff wrote in 1986 that the move resulted from feuds between Dow Jones and the printer's union. By Kilgore's death in 1967, Wall Street Journal circulation exceeded one million. In 1967, Dow Jones Newswires began

11424-505: The technologies developed for the company's optical disc products. In 1983, Sony introduced 90 mm micro diskettes, better known as 3.5-inch (89 mm) floppy disks , which it had developed at a time when there were 4" floppy disks, and many variations from different companies, to replace the then on-going 5.25" floppy disks. Sony had great success and the format became dominant. 3.5" floppy disks gradually became obsolete as they were replaced by current media formats. Sony held more than

11543-509: The time. Ultimately, SDDS has been vastly overshadowed by the preferred DTS ( Digital Theatre System ) and Dolby Digital standards in the motion picture industry. SDDS was solely developed for use in the theatre circuit; Sony never intended to develop a home theatre version of SDDS. Sony and Philips jointly developed the Sony-Philips digital interface format ( S/PDIF ) and the high-fidelity audio system SACD . The latter became entrenched in

11662-422: The transistor radio TR-55 , the home video tape recorder CV-2000 , the portable audio player Walkman , and the compact disc player CDP-101 , embarked on diverse business ventures. In 1988, Sony acquired CBS Records , and in 1989, it acquired Columbia Pictures . The company also introduced the home video game console PlayStation in 1994, which was the first of the eponymous brand . In Japan, Sony expanded into

11781-485: The two companies. The breaking of the partnership infuriated Sony President Norio Ohga , who responded by appointing Kutaragi with the responsibility of developing the PlayStation project to rival Nintendo. At that time, negotiations were still on-going between Nintendo and Sony, with Nintendo offering Sony a "non-gaming role" regarding their new partnership with Philips. This proposal was swiftly rejected by Kutaragi who

11900-455: The world's first LED-backlit LCD televisions. It was widely used in other Sony's products as well, including computer monitors, laptops, and smartphones. In 2013, Sony released a new line of televisions with an improved version of the technology, which incorporated quantum dots in the backlight system. It was the first commercial use of quantum dots. In 2012, the company revealed a prototype of an ultrafine RGB LED display, which it calls

12019-510: The world's first videocassette format, in 1971, but the standard was unpopular for domestic use due to the high price. The company subsequently launched the Betamax format in 1975. Sony was involved in the videotape format war of the early 1980s, when they were marketing the Betamax system for video cassette recorders against the VHS format developed by JVC . In the end, VHS gained critical mass in

12138-440: Was Jewish, in contrast to the largely midwestern, WASP management of the Journal at the time. Phillips, a former socialist, shifted his political views in the 1950s to reflect social liberalism and fiscal conservatism. Under Phillips, the Journal provided in-depth coverage of the civil rights movement , on the grounds that it "was something that the average businessman needed to know about". For instance, Journal coverage of

12257-555: Was a loan word in Japanese, which connoted smart and presentable young men, which Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka considered themselves to be. The first Sony-branded product, the TR-55 transistor radio , appeared in 1955, but the company name did not change to Sony until January 1958. At the time of the change, it was extremely unusual for a Japanese company to use Roman letters to spell its name instead of writing it in kanji . The move

12376-602: Was a three-day strike at Silver Spring, Maryland , in 1967; that would be followed by a weeklong strike by truck drivers at the South Brunswick, New Jersey , in 1970. The period from 1971 to 1997 brought about a series of launches, acquisitions, and joint ventures, including " Factiva ", The Wall Street Journal Asia , The Wall Street Journal Europe , the WSJ.com website, Dow Jones Indexes, MarketWatch , and "WSJ Weekend Edition". In 2007, News Corp. acquired Dow Jones. WSJ. ,

12495-543: Was awarded by the Society for News Design World's Best Designed Newspaper award for 1994 and 1997. On May 2, 2007, News Corporation made an unsolicited takeover bid for Dow Jones , offering $ 60 per share for stock that had been selling for $ 36.33 per share. The Bancroft family , which controlled more than 60% of the voting stock, at first rejected the offer, but later reconsidered its position. Three months later, on August 1, 2007, News Corporation and Dow Jones entered into

12614-520: Was called DVD and was introduced in 1997. Sony was one of the leading developers of the Blu-ray optical disc format, the newest standard for disc-based content delivery. The first Blu-ray players became commercially available in 2006. The format emerged as the standard for HD media over the competing format, Toshiba's HD DVD , after a two-year-long high-definition optical disc format war . Sony's laser communication devices for small satellites rely on

12733-471: Was commonly believed to be the largest paid-subscription news site on the Web, with 980,000 paid subscribers. Since then, digital subscription has risen to 1.3 million as of September 2018, falling to number two behind The New York Times with 3 million digital subscriptions. In May 2008, an annual subscription to the digital edition of The Wall Street Journal cost $ 119 for those who do not have subscriptions to

12852-467: Was considered the third most-accurate and fourth most-unbiased news organization among the general public, tenth among Democrats , and second among Republicans . In an October 2018 Simmons Research survey of 38 news organizations, The Wall Street Journal was ranked the most trusted news organization by Americans. Joshua Benton of the Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University wrote that

12971-555: Was considering firing Times editor Harold Evans . Mr. Emery says he reminded Mr. Murdoch of his promise that editors couldn't be fired without the independent directors' approval. 'God, you don't take all that seriously, do you?' Mr. Murdoch answered, according to Mr. Emery." Murdoch eventually forced out Evans. In 2011, The Guardian found evidence that the Journal had artificially inflated its European sales numbers, by paying Executive Learning Partnership for purchasing 16% of European sales. These inflated sales numbers then enabled

13090-477: Was established as an intermediate holding company to own and oversee its electronics and IT solutions businesses. On 19 May 2020, the company announced that it would change its name to Sony Group Corporation as of 1 April 2021. Subsequently, Sony Electronics Corporation would be renamed to Sony Corporation. On the same day the company announced that it would turn Sony Financial Holdings (currently Sony Financial Group), of which Sony already owns 65.06% of shares, to

13209-497: Was facing increasing criticism over his work with regard to entering the video game industry from within Sony. Negotiations officially ended in May 1992 and in order to decide the fate of the PlayStation project, a meeting was held in June 1992, consisting of Sony President Ohga, PlayStation Head Kutaragi and several senior members of Sony's board. At the meeting, Kutaragi unveiled a proprietary CD-ROM-based system he had been working on which involved playing video games with 3D graphics to

13328-509: Was joined by Akio Morita to establish a company called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo ( 東京通信工業 , Tōkyō Tsūshin Kōgyō , Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation) . The company built Japan's first tape recorder , called the Type-G. In 1958, the company changed its name to "Sony". Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo founders Morita and Ibuka realized that to achieve success and grow, their business had to expand to

13447-414: Was not without opposition: TTK's principal bank at the time, Mitsui , had strong feelings about the name. They pushed for a name such as Sony Electronic Industries, or Sony Teletech. Akio Morita was firm, however, as he did not want the company name tied to any particular industry. Eventually, both Ibuka and Mitsui Bank's chairman gave their approval. According to Schiffer, Sony's TR-63 radio "cracked open

13566-560: Was ranked 88th on the 2021 Fortune Global 500 list. In 2023, the company was ranked 57th in the Forbes Global 2000 . Sony began in the wake of World War II. In 1946, Masaru Ibuka started an electronics shop in Shirokiya, a department store building in the Nihonbashi area of Tokyo . The company started with a capital of ¥190,000 and a total of eight employees. On 7 May 1946, Ibuka

13685-478: Was reported in December 2016 by multiple news outlets that Sony was considering restructuring its U.S. operations by merging its TV & film business, Sony Pictures Entertainment, with its gaming business, Sony Interactive Entertainment. According to the reports, such a restructuring would have placed Sony Pictures under Sony Interactive's CEO, Andrew House, though House would not have taken over day-to-day operations of

13804-487: Was the pursuit of "convergence", linking film, music and digital electronics via the Internet. This expansion proved unrewarding and unprofitable, threatening Sony's ability to charge a premium on its products as well as its brand name. In 2005, Howard Stringer replaced Nobuyuki Idei as chief executive officer, marking the first time that a foreigner had run a major Japanese electronics firm. Stringer helped to reinvigorate

13923-467: Was tried out for a while was "Tokyo Teletech" until Akio Morita discovered that there was an American company already using Teletech as a brand name. The name "Sony" was chosen for the brand as a mix of two words: one was the Latin word " sonus ", which is the root of sonic and sound, and the other was " sonny ", a common slang term used in 1950s America to call a young boy. In 1950s Japan, "sonny boys"

14042-423: Was waiting for [the crew] to move some cameras, and the crew guy comes up to me, he says, "You got the black card?" And I go "No, what’s the black card?" He says, "There’s only three in the world. The Sultan of Brunei has one, the president of American Express has one, and I thought you would have the third one." Next morning I call the president of American Express. I go, "Is there a black card?" He says, "It's just

14161-493: Was widely known as the "Black Card." The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled that Black Card, LLC's trademark of the name "Black Card" should be canceled on grounds that it was merely descriptive. As of 2019, it uses the registered trademark under license. Since its introduction, the Centurion card has only been issued to clients invited by American Express to apply for it. The selection criteria

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