On This Day - What happened 7 May 1946 AD

Sony began in the wake of World War II. In 1946, Masaru Ibuka started an electronics shop in a department store building in Tokyo. The company started with a capital of ¥190,000 and a total of eight employees.

On 7 May 1946, Ibuka was joined by Akio Morita to establish a company called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo (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".

On May 7, 1946, Ibuka founded Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha (Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering Corporation, the forerunner of Sony Corporation) with about 20 employees and initial capital of ¥190,000. Ibuka was 38 years old. Morita, 25 years old joined Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha shortly after its inception, with Morita's family investing in Sony during the early period and being the largest shareholder.