Michael Jackson, who has been living in Bahrain since he was acquitted of child abuse charges a year ago, is moving to Europe and will begin performing again.

Sony Corporation today said it will cut 10,000 jobs globally, slash the number of factories and cut costs by 200 billion yen (€1.46bn) in an ambitious restructuring bid to revive its stumbling electronics business.

Sony shareholders today approved Welsh-born Howard Stringer as the new chief executive, the first foreigner to head the Japanese electronics and entertainment company.

SONY CORPORATION has signed a $305 million deal to become a sponsor of soccer’s world governing body FIFA from 2007 to 2014 giving them “core sponsorship rights” to all FIFA competitions over the seven years.

The EU Commission has confirmed that its probe into the merger of the music operations of Sony Corporation and Bertelsmann has been put on hold until more information on the deal has been gathered.

Sony Corporation said its first half operating profit to September fell more than 50%.

Sony Music chairman and chief executive Tommy Mottola, who was responsible for building the careers of Mariah Carey, Jennifer Lopez and Celine Dion, has announced he is leaving the company to start his own music label.

The Sony Corporation announced results for Q2, where its net profits increased to 44.1bn (€363.5m) Yen from a 31.2bn Yen (€257m) net loss last year.