Sony Music Studios was an American music recording and mastering facility in New York City . The five-story building was a music and broadcasting complex located at 460 W. 54th Street , at 10th Avenue , in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan . It opened in 1993 and closed in August 2007.
145-465: In addition to being the production facility for new popular, classical, and other albums, it was also used as space for soundtrack recording and mixing, post-production, and rehearsals. Sony Music Studios also had facilities for live and taped television broadcasts. Prior to its acquisition by Sony in 1993, the industrial red-brick barn was owned by Camera Mart for 20 years and leased the space to movie and television producers. William Fox, President of
290-556: A $ 335 million project. Toward the end of 1961, negotiations with outgoing New Jersey Governor Meyner reached a stalemate. At the time, ridership on New Jersey's H&M Railroad had declined substantially—from a high of 113 million riders in 1927, to 26 million in 1958—after new automobile tunnels and bridges had opened across the Hudson River. In a December 1961 meeting between Port Authority director Austin J. Tobin and newly elected New Jersey Governor Richard J. Hughes ,
435-832: A 1970 account was supposed to accommodate 130,000 people. On a typical weekday, an estimated 50,000 people worked in the complex and another 140,000 passed through as visitors. The World Trade Center was so large that it had its own zip code: 10048 . The towers offered expansive views from the observation deck atop the South Tower and the Windows on the World restaurant on top of the North Tower. The Twin Towers became known worldwide, appearing in numerous movies and television shows as well as on postcards and other merchandise. It became
580-466: A 362 foot (110 m) telecommunications antenna or mast that was built on the roof in 1979 (upgraded in 1999 to accommodate DTV broadcasts). With this addition, the highest point of the North Tower reached 1,730 feet (530 m). Chicago's Willis Tower , then called Sears Tower which was finished in May 1973 , reached 1,450 feet (440 m) at the rooftop. When completed in 1973, the South Tower became
725-664: 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
870-782: A New York icon, in the same league as the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and the Statue of Liberty . The World Trade Center was compared to Rockefeller Center , which David Rockefeller's brother Nelson Rockefeller had developed in midtown Manhattan. One World Trade Center and Two World Trade Center, commonly referred to as the Twin Towers , were designed by architect Minoru Yamasaki as framed tube structures, which provided tenants with open floor plans, uninterrupted by columns or walls. They were
1015-453: 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
1160-636: A World Trade Center in New York City was first proposed in 1943. The New York State Legislature passed a bill authorizing New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey to begin developing plans for the project, but the plans were put on hold in 1949. During the late 1940s and 1950s, economic growth in New York City was concentrated in Midtown Manhattan . To help stimulate urban renewal in Lower Manhattan, David Rockefeller suggested that
1305-783: 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
1450-624: 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 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,
1595-477: A fire on February 13 , 1975; a bombing on February 26 , 1993; and a bank robbery on January 14 , 1998. These events preceded the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. During the attacks, al-Qaeda -affiliated hijackers flew two Boeing 767 jets, one into each of the Twin Towers, seventeen minutes apart; between 16,400 and 18,000 people were in the Twin Towers when they were struck. The fires from
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#17327808609631740-457: 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,
1885-513: 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
2030-509: A height of 1,377 ft (420 m). On a clear day, visitors could see up to 50 miles (80 km). An anti-suicide fence was placed on the roof itself, with the viewing platform set back and elevated above it, requiring only an ordinary railing. This left the view unobstructed, unlike the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Windows on the World, the restaurant on the North Tower's 106th and 107th floors, opened in April 1976 . It
2175-507: A model for the complex on January 18, 1964. The original plans called for two towers rising 1,350 feet (410 m), as well as several six-story buildings surrounding a central plaza (later the Austin J. Tobin Plaza ). These buildings were to include office space, restaurants, a hotel, exhibition space, stores, and an information center about world trade. The agency released its final model of
2320-480: 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 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
2465-667: 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 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
2610-460: A short-lived "Manhattan ‘54" operation there. After this, it appears to have been bought by Camera Mart, who leased shooting space at “Stage One” and “Stage Two” until at least 1980. For one brief year, 1979, Stage One became a major dance and ballet performance space. Camera Mart owned the property until selling it to Sony in 1993. On November 18, 1993, Nirvana recorded their unplugged set at Sony Music Studios in New York City. The complex hosted
2755-731: 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
2900-411: A square plan approximately 208 feet (63 m) in dimension on each side. The buildings were designed with narrow office windows 18 inches (46 cm) wide, which reflected Yamasaki's fear of heights as well as his desire to make building occupants feel secure. His design included building facades clad in aluminum-alloy. The World Trade Center was one of the most striking American implementations of
3045-410: A strong, rigid wall structure, supporting virtually all lateral loads such as wind loads, and sharing the gravity load with the core columns. The perimeter structure containing 59 columns per side was constructed with extensive use of prefabricated modular pieces, each consisting of three columns, three stories tall, connected by spandrel plates. The spandrel plates were welded to the columns to create
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#17327808609633190-529: A subsidiary and, at the same time, a holding company for Sony's music businesses, along with SMEJ . World Trade Center (1973%E2%80%932001) The original World Trade Center ( WTC ) was a complex of seven buildings in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City . Built primarily between 1966 and 1975, it was dedicated on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed during
3335-409: A utility shaft that ran vertically between floors. Areas at the furthest extent of the fire were extinguished almost immediately; the original fire was put out in a few hours. Most of the damage was concentrated on the 11th floor, fueled by cabinets filled with paper, alcohol-based fluid for office machines, and other office equipment. Fireproofing protected the steel and there was no structural damage to
3480-668: A week, and a string of film shorts soon thereafter. The March of Time documentary film series began in rented space on the second floor from 1934–1936. Fox Movietone newsreels ceased production in 1963, but by then the studio had become popular for film and commercial production. Among the features made there: Miracle on 34th Street (1947), On The Waterfront (1954), Middle of the Night (1959), Fail Safe (1964), The Pawnbroker (1964), The Group (1966), The Owl and The Pussycat (1970), Where's Poppa? (1970), Shaft (1971), and The Exorcist (1973). Fox leased out
3625-570: 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
3770-492: Is being built with six new skyscrapers and several other buildings, many of which are complete. A memorial and museum to those killed in the attacks, a new rapid transit hub , and an elevated park have opened. The memorial features two square reflecting pools in the center marking where the Twin Towers stood. One World Trade Center , the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere at 1,776 feet (541 m) and
3915-505: 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
4060-443: 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 ,
4205-573: 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
4350-462: The 1993 World Trade Center Bombing Memorial fountain. The plaza was pervaded by Muzak background music that came from installed loudspeakers. For many years, the Plaza was often beset by brisk winds at ground level owing to the Venturi effect between the two towers. Some gusts were so strong that pedestrians' travel had to be aided by ropes. In 1997 Tony May opened an Italian restaurant in
4495-579: 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
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4640-824: 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
4785-635: 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
4930-657: The Fox Film Corporation , had worked with inventor Theodore W. Case to develop a method for capturing sound on film eventually becoming the Movietone sound system . In August 1926 the Fox-Case Corporation was created, making $ 200,000 worth of improvements to what had been the Fox Annex, a warehouse at 460 W. 54th St. (Fox Films New York ran out of the giant building at 850 Tenth Avenue, around
5075-574: The Pentagon . The special also featured segments from CBS Television City in Los Angeles. Neither location was disclosed before air time because of security concerns. On June 7, 2007, after a buyout attempt by Sony Music Executive Vice President/Studio Head Andy Kadison stalled, Sony BMG Music Entertainment announced that it would be closing the studios. Sold in November 2007 for $ 44 million,
5220-677: The September 11 attacks in 2001. At the time of their completion, the 110-story-tall Twin Towers , including the original 1 World Trade Center (the North Tower) at 1,368 feet (417 m), and 2 World Trade Center (the South Tower) at 1,362 feet (415.1 m), were the tallest buildings in the world ; they were also the tallest twin skyscrapers in the world until 1996, when the Petronas Towers opened. Other buildings in
5365-450: 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 was not without opposition: TTK's principal bank at the time, Mitsui , had strong feelings about the name. They pushed for
5510-535: 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
5655-476: The framed-tube structural system used in the twin towers. The Port Authority's Engineering Department served as foundation engineers , Joseph R. Loring & Associates as electrical engineers , and Jaros, Baum & Bolles (JB&B) as mechanical engineers . Tishman Realty & Construction Company was the general contractor on the World Trade Center project. Guy F. Tozzoli , director of
5800-480: The 107th floor to the top of the buildings were designed to support a tall communication antenna on top of each building. Only 1 WTC (North Tower) actually had a spire antenna fitted, which was added in May 1979. The truss system consisted of six trusses along the long axis of the core and four along the short axis. This truss system allowed some load redistribution between the perimeter and core columns and supported
5945-432: The 1960s by Bangladeshi-American structural engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan , was a new approach that allowed more open floor plans than the traditional design that distributed columns throughout the interior to support building loads. Each of the World Trade Center towers had 236 high-strength, load-bearing perimeter steel columns which acted as Vierendeel trusses . The perimeter columns were spaced closely together to form
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6090-584: The Greatest Bar on Earth and Cellar in the Sky (reopened after Labor Day ) replaced the original restaurant offshoots. In 1999, Cellar in the Sky was changed into an American steakhouse and renamed as Wild Blue. In 2000 (its last full year of operation), Windows on the World reported revenues of $ 37 million, making it the highest-grossing restaurant in the United States. The Skydive Restaurant, which
6235-523: 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
6380-481: The North Tower within Tobin Plaza for musicians and performers. These series of concerts and events were called "CenterStage at the World Trade Center". At the center of the plaza stood the monumental sculpture The Sphere by German artist Fritz Koenig . The world's largest bronze sculpture of modern times was surrounded by a fountain. The site had other sculptures such as Ideogram , Cloud Fortress , and
6525-517: The Port Authority announced the selection of Minoru Yamasaki as lead architect and Emery Roth & Sons as associate architects. Yamasaki devised the plan to incorporate twin towers. His original plan called for the towers to be 80 stories tall, but to meet the Port Authority's requirement for 10,000,000 square feet (930,000 m ) of office space, the buildings would each have to be 110 stories tall. The Port Authority publicly presented
6670-600: The Port Authority build a World Trade Center there. Plans for the use of eminent domain to remove the shops in Radio Row bounded by Vesey , Church , Liberty , and West Streets began in 1961 when the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey was deciding to build the world's first world trade center . They had two choices: the east side of Lower Manhattan , near the South Street Seaport ; or
6815-450: The Port Authority leased operation of the observatory to Ogden Entertainment, which decided to renovate it. On April 30, 1997, the Top of the World tour reopened after renovations were finished. Attractions added to the observation deck included 24 video monitors, which provided descriptions of 44 points of interest in six languages; a theater showing a film of a simulated helicopter tour around
6960-540: The Port Authority offered to take over the H&;M Railroad. They also decided to move the World Trade Center project to the Hudson Terminal building site on the west side of Lower Manhattan, a more convenient location for New Jersey commuters arriving via PATH . With the new location and the Port Authority's acquisition of the H&M Railroad, New Jersey agreed to support the World Trade Center project. As part of
7105-489: The Port Authority would make annual PILOTs for the portion of the World Trade Center leased to private tenants. In subsequent years, the payments would rise as the real estate tax rate increased. In May 1967, the New York City Planning Commission approved several changes to the street grid that would allow the Port Authority to begin acquiring land for the complex. On September 20 , 1962,
7250-525: The Port Authority's approved plans to privatize the World Trade Center in the late 1990s, they sought to lease it to a private entity in 2001. Bids for the lease came from Vornado Realty Trust ; a joint bid between Brookfield Properties Corporation and Boston Properties ; and a joint bid by Silverstein Properties and the Westfield Group . Privatizing the World Trade Center would add it to
7395-409: The Port Authority's chief engineer, John M. Kyle Jr., involved digging a trench, and as excavation proceeded, filling the space with a slurry consisting of a mixture of bentonite and water, which plugged holes and kept groundwater out. When the trench was dug out, a steel cage was inserted and concrete was poured in, forcing the slurry out. It took fourteen months for the slurry wall to be completed. It
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#17327808609637540-560: The Twin Towers, the plan for the World Trade Center complex included four other low-rise buildings, which were built in the early 1970s. The 47-story 7 World Trade Center building was added in the 1980s, to the north of the main complex. Altogether, the main World Trade Center complex occupied a 16-acre (65,000 m ) superblock . The World Trade Center complex housed more than 430 companies that were engaged in various commercial activities. The complex hosted 13,400,000 square feet (1,240,000 m ) of office space, which according to
7685-715: The U.S. Although its design was initially criticized by New Yorkers and architectural critics, the Twin Towers became an icon of New York City. It had a major role in popular culture , and according to one estimate was depicted in 472 films. The Twin Towers were also used in Philippe Petit 's tightrope-walking performance on August 7, 1974. Following the September 11 attacks, mentions of the complex in various media were altered or deleted , and several dozen "memorial films" were created. The World Trade Center experienced several major crime and terrorist incidents, including
7830-401: The World Trade Center towers could be subjected to and structural response to those forces. Experiments also were done to evaluate how much sway occupants could comfortably tolerate; however, many subjects experienced dizziness and other ill effects. One of the chief engineers Leslie Robertson worked with Canadian engineer Alan G. Davenport to develop viscoelastic dampers to absorb some of
7975-578: The World Trade Department at the Port Authority, and Rino M. Monti, the Port Authority's Chief Engineer, oversaw the project. As an interstate agency, the Port Authority was not subject to the local laws and regulations of the City of New York, including building codes . Nonetheless, the World Trade Center's structural engineers ended up following draft versions of New York City's new 1968 building codes. The framed-tube design, introduced in
8120-476: The architectural ethic of Le Corbusier and was the seminal expression of Yamasaki's gothic modernist tendencies. He was also inspired by Islamic architecture , elements of which he incorporated in the building's design, having previously designed Saudi Arabia's Dhahran International Airport with the Saudi Binladin Group . A major limiting factor in building height is the issue of elevators;
8265-413: The area held several blocks of electronics stores, with Cortlandt Street as its central axis. The used radios, war surplus electronics (e.g., AN/ARC-5 radios), junk, and parts were often piled so high they would spill out onto the street, attracting collectors and scroungers. According to a business writer, it also was the origin of the electronic component distribution business. The idea of establishing
8410-440: The attacks, some from smoke inhalation. Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and four other individuals were later convicted for their involvement in the bombing, while Yousef and Eyad Ismoil were convicted for carrying out the bombing. According to a presiding judge, the conspirators' chief aim at the time of the attack was to destabilize the North Tower and send it crashing into the South Tower, toppling both skyscrapers. Following
8555-609: The bathtub began in late 1967. Construction work began on the North Tower in August 1968 , and construction on the South Tower was under way by January 1969 . The original Hudson Tubes , which carried PATH trains into Hudson Terminal, remained in service during the construction process until 1971, when a new station opened. The topping out ceremony of 1 WTC (North Tower) took place on December 23 , 1970, while 2 WTC's ceremony (South Tower) occurred on July 19 , 1971. Extensive use of prefabricated components helped to speed up
8700-412: 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 ,
8845-409: The bombing, floors that were blown out needed to be repaired to restore the structural support they provided to columns. The slurry wall was in peril following the bombing and the loss of the floor slabs that provided lateral support against pressure from Hudson River water on the other side. The refrigeration plant on sublevel B5, which provided air conditioning to the entire World Trade Center complex,
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#17327808609638990-522: 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" 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,
9135-424: The building was razed and replaced by luxury condos. The last television production housed by the studio was Grand Slam , another Michael Davies and Embassy Row production, hosted by Dennis Miller. This company is responsible for the development of many well-known artists such as Michael Jackson , Beyoncé , Alicia Keys , John Legend and other international artists such as Romeo Santos and Maluma . Before
9280-427: The city called "Manhattan Magic"; a model of Manhattan with 750 buildings; a Kodak photo booth and two gift shops. The 107th-floor also featured a subway -themed food court that featured Sbarro Street Station and Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs with a dining area that simulated Central Park . Weather permitting, visitors could ride two short escalators up from the 107th-floor viewing area to an outdoor platform at
9425-402: The city's tax rolls and provide funds for other Port Authority projects. On February 15 , 2001, the Port Authority announced that Vornado Realty Trust had won the World Trade Center lease, paying $ 3.25 billion for the 99-year lease. Vornado outbid Silverstein by $ 600 million though Silverstein upped his offer to $ 3.22 billion. However, Vornado insisted on last minute changes to
9570-572: 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
9715-430: 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 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
9860-425: 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
10005-522: The completion of the Sears Tower in 1973. They were not surpassed until the construction of the Burj Khalifa , which opened in 2010. The towers were also the world's tallest twin towers until 1996, when the Petronas Towers opened. Each tower had a total mass of around 500,000 tons. The original World Trade Center had a five-acre (two-hectare) plaza around which all of the buildings in
10150-459: The complex in March 1966. Despite public criticism over the height of the 110-story twin towers, Yamasaki & Associates and Emery Roth & Sons made only relatively minor changes to the plans, which were released in May 1966. The revised plans called for the twin towers and four additional low-rise structures to surround the central plaza. Yamasaki's design for the World Trade Center called for
10295-605: The complex included the Marriott World Trade Center (3 WTC), 4 WTC , 5 WTC , 6 WTC , and 7 WTC . The complex contained 13,400,000 square feet (1,240,000 m ) of office space and, prior to its completion, was projected to accommodate an estimated 130,000 people. The core complex cost about $ 400 million (equivalent to $ 2.31 billion in 2023). The idea was suggested by David Rockefeller to help stimulate urban renewal in Lower Manhattan, and his brother Nelson , then New York's 49th governor, signed
10440-426: The complex to various independent film and television producers such as A.B.T. (“America’s Best Television”) Productions (1949) with such TV series as Inner Sanctum , The Reporter , and I Spy produced at the location. The famous "I Love New York" ad was filmed there in 1978. Printed records are murky on precisely when Twentieth Century Fox divested itself of the property. In 1968, Manhattan Sound Studios ran
10585-404: The complex, including the twin towers, were centered. World Trade Center officials had wanted the plaza to be a "contemplative space" or a Zen garden . In 1982, the plaza was renamed after Port Authority's late chairman, Austin J. Tobin, who authorized the construction of the original World Trade Center. During the summer, the Port Authority installed a portable stage, typically backed up against
10730-467: The construction of the World Trade Center took place on August 5 , 1966. The site of the World Trade Center was located on filled land with the bedrock located 65 feet (20 m) below. To construct the World Trade Center, it was necessary to build a " bathtub " with a slurry wall around the West Street side of the site, to keep water from the Hudson River out. The slurry method selected by
10875-518: The construction process, and the first tenants moved into the North Tower on December 15, 1970 , while it was still under construction, while the South Tower began accepting tenants in January 1972 . The complex had 111 tenants with a combined 1,800 employees by late 1971. When the Twin Towers were completed, the total costs to the Port Authority had reached $ 900 million. The ribbon-cutting ceremony took place on April 4 , 1973. In addition to
11020-479: The corner. It eventually became DeLuxe, and is now Independence High School). Fox-Case at first devoted its efforts to developing talking Movietone News newsreels . On April 30, 1927 (six months before Warner Brothers “debuted” the talkies with “ The Jazz Singer ”), the first talking Fox Movietone subject debuted in New York; it was a sensation. By the end of 1928, Movietone was churning out four talking newsreels
11165-468: The course. Windows on the World was forced to close following the 1993 World Trade Center bombing as the explosion damaged receiving areas, storage and parking spots used by the restaurant complex. On May 12, 1994, the Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman Company won the contract to run the restaurants after Windows's former operator, Inhilco , gave up its lease. After its reopening on June 26, 1996,
11310-443: The deal, including a shorter 39-year lease, which the Port Authority considered nonnegotiable. Vornado later withdrew and Silverstein's bid for the lease to the World Trade Center was accepted on April 26 , 2001, and closed on July 24 , 2001. On September 11, 2001 , Islamist terrorists hijacked two commercial airliners and crashed them into the Twin Towers. One group led by Mohamed Atta crashed American Airlines Flight 11 into
11455-447: The deal, the Port Authority renamed the H&M "Port Authority Trans-Hudson", or PATH for short. To compensate Radio Row business owners for their displacement, the Port Authority gave each business $ 3,000 without regard to how long the business had been there or how prosperous it was. The Port Authority began purchasing properties in the area for the World Trade Center by March 1965, and demolition of Radio Row began in March 1966. It
11600-501: The design to stack local elevators within the same elevator shaft. Located on the 44th and 78th floors of each tower, the sky lobbies enabled the elevators to be used efficiently. This increased the amount of usable space on each floor from 62 to 75 percent by reducing the number of elevator shafts. Altogether, the World Trade Center had 95 express and local elevators. The structural engineering firm Worthington, Skilling, Helle & Jackson worked to implement Yamasaki's design, developing
11745-469: 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
11890-487: 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 ,
12035-471: 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
12180-523: The fire and was criminally charged. The first terrorist attack on the World Trade Center occurred on February 26, 1993, at 12:17 p.m. A Ryder truck filled with 1,500 pounds (680 kg) of explosives (planted by Ramzi Yousef ) detonated in the North Tower's underground garage. The blast opened a 100 ft (30 m) hole through five sublevels, with the greatest damage occurring on levels B1 and B2 and significant structural damage on level B3. Six people were killed and 1,042 others were injured in
12325-666: The first US version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire for ABC in 1999 (on a one-day delay), before the current syndicated version and occasional specials moved to ABC-owned studios farther north on the West Side of Manhattan. Other programs recorded or aired live from the Sony Music Studios included MTV Unplugged (including MTV Unplugged in New York , 1993 by Nirvana ), Sessions at West 54th , Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn and VH1 ’s Hard Rock Live . Sony Music
12470-612: 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 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
12615-497: The floors. The trusses connected to the perimeter at alternate columns and were on 6 foot 8 inch (2.03 m) centers. The top chords of the trusses were bolted to seats welded to the spandrels on the exterior side and a channel welded to the core columns on the interior side. The floors were connected to the perimeter spandrel plates with viscoelastic dampers that helped reduce the amount of sway felt by building occupants. Hat trusses (or "outrigger trusses") located from
12760-619: 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 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,
12905-399: The home video game console PlayStation in 1994, which was the first of the eponymous brand . In Japan, Sony expanded into 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,
13050-420: The impacts were intensified by the planes' burning jet fuel, which, along with the initial damage to the buildings' structural columns, ultimately caused both towers to collapse . The attacks killed 2,606 people in and around the towers, as well as all 157 on board the two aircraft. Falling debris from the towers, combined with fires in several surrounding buildings that were initiated by falling debris, led to
13195-518: The lead building for the new complex, completed construction in May 2013 and opened in November 2014. The western portion of the World Trade Center site was originally under the Hudson River . The shoreline was in the vicinity of Greenwich Street , which is closer to the site's eastern border. It was on this shoreline, close to the intersection of Greenwich and the former Dey Street , that Dutch explorer Adriaen Block 's ship, Tyger , burned to
13340-453: The legislation to build it. The buildings at the complex were designed by Minoru Yamasaki . In 1998, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey decided to privatize it by leasing the buildings to a private company to manage. It awarded the lease to Silverstein Properties in July 2001 . During its existence, the World Trade Center symbolized globalization and the economic prosperity of
13485-400: The main buildings of the World Trade Center. Construction of the North Tower at One World Trade Center began in 1966 with the South Tower at Two World Trade Center. When completed in 1972, 1 World Trade Center became the tallest building in the world for two years, surpassing the Empire State Building after its 40-year reign. The North Tower stood 1,368 feet (417 m) tall and featured
13630-520: 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
13775-429: The modular pieces off-site at the fabrication shop. Adjacent modules were bolted together with the splices occurring at mid-span of the columns and spandrels. The spandrel plates were located at each floor, transmitting shear stress between columns, allowing them to work together in resisting lateral loads. The joints between modules were staggered vertically so that the column splices between adjacent modules were not on
13920-465: The morning of August 7, 1974, Philippe Petit performed a high-wire walk between the North and South Towers of the World Trade Center. For his unauthorized feat 1,312 feet (400 m) above the ground, he rigged a 440-pound (200 kg) cable and used a custom-made 30-foot-long (9.1 m), 55-pound (25 kg) balancing pole. He performed for 45 minutes, making eight passes along the wire. Though Petit
14065-484: The north of the superblock. Beneath the World Trade Center complex was an underground shopping mall . It had connections to various mass transit facilities, including the New York City Subway system and the Port Authority's PATH trains. One of the world's largest gold depositories was located underneath the World Trade Center, owned by a group of commercial banks. The 1993 bombing detonated close to
14210-564: The partial or complete collapse of all the WTC complex's buildings, including 7 World Trade Center , and caused catastrophic damage to 10 other large structures in the surrounding area. The cleanup and recovery process at the World Trade Center site took eight months, during which the remains of the other buildings were demolished. On May 30, 2002, the last piece of WTC steel was ceremonially removed. A new World Trade Center complex
14355-431: The plaza next to 4 World Trade Center called "Gemelli". The following year, he opened another restaurant in an adjacent place called "Pasta Break". On June 9, 1999, the outdoor plaza reopened after undergoing $ 12 million in renovations. This involved replacing marble pavers with over 40,000 gray and pink granite stones, as well as adding benches, planters, food kiosks, and outdoor dining areas. Although most of
14500-544: The plaza. 6 World Trade Center , at the northwest corner, housed the United States Customs Service . 5 World Trade Center was located at the northeast corner above the PATH station, and 4 World Trade Center , located at the southeast corner, housed the U.S. Commodities Exchange . In 1987, construction was completed on a 47-floor office building, 7 World Trade Center , located to
14645-417: The position of president over to his co-founder Akio Morita. Sony began 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
14790-688: The recording studio ended in 2007, some classics were recorded there including: 40°46′01″N 73°59′21″W / 40.76688°N 73.98905°W / 40.76688; -73.98905 Sony Sony Group Corporation (formerly Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo K.K. and Sony Corporation ) 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
14935-408: The restaurant two out of four stars, signifying a "very good" quality. In his 2009 book Appetite , William Grimes wrote that, "At Windows, New York was the main course". In 2014, Ryan Sutton of Eater.com compared the now-destroyed restaurant's cuisine to that of its replacement, One World Observatory . He said, "Windows helped usher in a new era of captive audience dining in that the restaurant
15080-552: The role of president. He encouraged the development of 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
15225-400: The same floor. Below the 7th floor to the foundation, there were fewer, wider-spaced perimeter columns to accommodate doorways. The core of the towers housed the elevator and utility shafts, restrooms, three stairwells, and other support spaces. The core of each tower was a rectangular area 87 by 135 feet (27 by 41 m) and contained 47 steel columns running from the bedrock to the top of
15370-525: The same. Moreover, Sony played a major role in the development of Japan as 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
15515-404: The second floor, visitors were required to pass through security checks added after the 1993 World Trade Center bombing . They were then sent to the 107th-floor indoor observatory at a height of 1,310 feet (400 m) by a dedicated express elevator, which could be only accessed by entering the core. The exterior columns were narrowed to allow 28 inches of window width between them. In 1995,
15660-410: 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 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
15805-400: The second tallest building in the world at 1,362 feet (415 m). Its rooftop observation deck was 1,362 ft (415 m) high and its indoor observation deck was 1,310 ft (400 m) high. Each tower stood over 1,350 feet (410 m) high, and occupied about 1 acre (4,000 m ) of the total 16 acres (65,000 m ) of the site's land. During a press conference in 1973, Yamasaki
15950-421: The site. The ship, believed to be a Hudson River sloop , was found just south of where the Twin Towers stood, about 20 feet (6.1 m) below the surface. Later, the area became New York City's Radio Row , which existed from 1921 to 1966. The neighborhood was a warehouse district in what is now Tribeca and the Financial District . Harry Schneck opened City Radio on Cortlandt Street in 1921, and eventually,
16095-662: 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
16240-505: The space in the World Trade Center complex was off-limits to the public, the South Tower featured a public glass-enclosed observation deck on the 107th floor called Top of the World and an open-air deck with the height of 110 stories. The observation deck opened in December 1975 and operated from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. (June to August) and from 9:30 a.m. – 9:30 p.m. (September to May). After paying an entrance fee in
16385-598: 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
16530-572: 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
16675-472: The sways. These viscoelastic dampers, used throughout the structures at the joints between floor trusses and perimeter columns along with some other structural modifications, reduced the building sway to an acceptable level. In March 1965, the Port Authority began acquiring property at the World Trade Center site. Demolition work began on March 21 , 1966, to clear thirteen square blocks of low rise buildings in Radio Row for its construction. Groundbreaking for
16820-434: The taller the building, the more elevators are needed to service it, requiring more space-consuming elevator banks. Yamasaki and the engineers decided to use a new system with two " sky lobbies "—floors where people could switch from a large-capacity express elevator to a local elevator that goes to each floor in a section. This system, inspired by the local-express train operation used in New York City's subway system, allowed
16965-505: 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
17110-515: 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
17255-438: The tower. In addition to fire damage on the 9th through the 14th floors, the water used to extinguish the fire damaged a few of the floors below. At that time, the World Trade Center had no fire sprinkler systems . On March 12, 1981, the Port Authority announced a $ 45 million plan to install sprinklers throughout the World Trade Center. A disgruntled custodian, 19 year old Oswald Adorno, was discovered to have deliberately started
17400-454: The tower. The large, column-free space between the perimeter and core was bridged by prefabricated floor trusses. The floors supported their own weight as well as live loads , providing lateral stability to the exterior walls and distributing wind loads among the exterior walls. The floors consisted of 4-inch (10 cm) thick lightweight concrete slabs laid on a fluted steel deck. A grid of lightweight bridging trusses and main trusses supported
17545-549: The transmission tower. The framed-tube design, using steel core and perimeter columns protected with sprayed-on fire-resistant material, created a relatively lightweight structure that would sway more in response to the wind compared to traditional structures, such as the Empire State Building that has thick, heavy masonry for fireproofing of steel structural elements. During the design process, wind tunnel tests were done to establish design wind pressures that
17690-491: 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
17835-403: The vault. Seven weeks after the September 11 attacks, $ 230 million in precious metals was removed from basement vaults of 4 WTC. This included 3,800 100-Troy-ounce 24 carat gold bars and 30,000 1,000-ounce silver bars. On February 13, 1975, a three-alarm fire broke out on the North Tower's 11th floor. It spread to the 9th and 14th floors after igniting telephone cable insulation in
17980-471: The waterline in November 1613, stranding him and his crew and forcing them to overwinter on the island. They built the first European settlement in Manhattan . The remains of the ship were buried under landfill when the shoreline was extended beginning in 1797 and was discovered during excavation work in 1916. The remains of a second eighteenth-century ship were discovered in 2010 during excavation work at
18125-510: The west side, near the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad (H&M) station, Hudson Terminal . Initial plans, made public in 1961, identified a site along the East River for the World Trade Center. As a bi-state agency, the Port Authority required approval for new projects from the governors of both New York and New Jersey . New Jersey Governor Robert B. Meyner objected to New York getting
18270-455: 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
18415-518: 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
18560-452: Was a 180-seat cafeteria on the 44th floor of 1 WTC conceived for office workers, was also operated by Windows on the World. In its last iteration, Windows on the World received mixed reviews. Ruth Reichl , a New York Times food critic, said in December 1996 that "nobody will ever go to Windows on the World just to eat, but even the fussiest food person can now be content dining at one of New York's favorite tourist destinations". She gave
18705-533: Was a destination in itself, rather than a lazy by-product of the vital institution it resided in." Five smaller buildings stood on the 16-acre (65,000 m ) block. One was the 22-floor hotel, which opened at the southwest corner of the site in 1981 as the Vista Hotel ; in 1995, it became the Marriott World Trade Center (3 WTC). Three low-rise buildings (4 WTC, 5 WTC, and 6 WTC), which were steel-framed office buildings, also stood around
18850-464: Was also home to the current version of the word game Chain Reaction , hosted by Dylan Lane . Millionaire and Chain Reaction , both packaged by Michael Davies , are the only two daily national quiz shows currently produced in New York. Sony Music Studios also hosted America: A Tribute to Heroes , a live telethon held 10 days after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and
18995-438: Was asked, "Why two 110-story buildings? Why not one 220-story building?" His tongue-in-cheek response was: "I didn't want to lose the human scale." Architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable criticized the design of the twin towers when they were first announced, saying: "Here we have the world's daintiest architecture for the world's biggest buildings." The twin towers had more floors (at 110) than any other building before
19140-525: 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
19285-555: Was charged with criminal trespass and disorderly conduct, he was later freed in exchange for performing for children in Central Park . On February 20, 1981, an Aerolíneas Argentinas airliner was guided away by air traffic controllers after radar signals indicated it was on a collision course with the North Tower (1 WTC). The aircraft, which departed from José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport in Guayaquil , Ecuador, and
19430-564: Was completely demolished by the end of the year. Approval was also needed from New York City Mayor John Lindsay and the New York City Council . Disagreements with the city centered on tax issues, and the New York City Planning Commission wanted the Port Authority to increase its payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) to the city government. On August 3 , 1966, an agreement was reached whereby
19575-527: Was developed by restaurateur Joe Baum at a cost of more than $ 17 million. As well as the main restaurant, two offshoots were located at the top of the North Tower: Hors d'Oeuvrerie (offered a Danish smorgasbord during the day and sushi in the evening) and Cellar in the Sky (a small wine bar ). Windows on the World also had a wine school program run by Kevin Zraly , who published a book on
19720-477: 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
19865-442: Was established in 1946 as Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita . This electronics company, known for creating products such as 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
20010-497: 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
20155-407: Was heavily damaged. After the bombing, the Port Authority installed photoluminescent pathway markings in the stairwells. The fire alarm system for the entire complex needed to be replaced because critical wiring and signaling in the original system were destroyed. A memorial to the victims of the bombing, a reflecting pool , was installed with the names of those who were killed in the blast. It
20300-411: 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 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
20445-492: Was later destroyed following the September 11 attacks. The names of the victims of the 1993 bombing are included in the National September 11 Memorial & Museum . In January 1998, a DeCavalcante crime family member Ralph Guarino gained maintenance access to the World Trade Center. He arranged a three-man crew for a heist that netted over $ 2 million from a Brinks delivery to the North Tower's 11th floor. On
20590-529: Was necessary before the excavation of material from the interior of the site could begin. The 1,200,000 cubic yards (920,000 m ) of excavated material were used (along with other fill and dredge material) to expand the Manhattan shoreline across West Street to form Battery Park City . The Port Authority awarded $ 74 million in contracts to various steel suppliers in January 1967, and excavation of
20735-427: 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
20880-508: Was scheduled to land at nearby JFK Airport , was flying at a much lower altitude than regulations recommended. The 1995 PCA world chess championship was played on the 107th floor of the South Tower. On February 8, 2000, a worker was crushed to death and another was injured by an industrial cooling unit. Slow leasing was a hallmark of the old World Trade Center complex. The Twin Towers suffered high vacancy rates for decades. The complex achieved 95% occupancy only in mid-2001. Following
21025-492: 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
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