Sony announces share buyback and Microsoft partnership

Japanese tech giant Sony has seen its shares skyrocket 9.89 percent, the highest levels witnessed since December 2018, after a dual announcement from the company.

Within this, Sony both committed to repurchasing up to ¥200 billion ($1.82 billion) of shares issued by March 31, 2020 and announced a new partnership with major gaming competitor Microsoft.

The collaboration will see Sony using Microsoft’s Azure cloud services for streaming games and other media. More detailed specifics of the partnership are yet to be disclosed, but the two companies have reportedly revealed that they could also potentially begin to develop new image sensor chips together.