Sign in

Ezawa

Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at Citigroup Securities

Kota Ezawa is a Managing Director and Senior Equity Analyst at Citigroup Global Markets Japan Inc., specializing in covering major Japanese technology and consumer electronics companies, including Sony, NEC, Hitachi, Sharp, and Fujitsu. He has a strong performance track record, with an 80.65% success rate across 15 stocks and an average return per recommendation of 32.20%, as recognized by platforms like TipRanks. With over 25 years of equity research experience, Ezawa joined Citi after holding senior research roles in the sector and has become noted for his in-depth analysis of both established and internet-related Japanese firms. He holds advanced professional credentials reflective of his senior position in the Japanese securities industry.

Ezawa's questions to Sony Group (SONY) leadership

Question · Q2 2026

Ezawa from Citigroup Securities asked for more details on the game segment's R&D, capital, and expenses, specifically regarding a capitalization correction, whether it relates to specific titles, and if such occurrences are expected more often. Ezawa also inquired about the scale of asset capitalization for game development, noting that depreciation of development assets might not be fully reflected in the supplementary presentation, and asked about the annual value of capitalized game development assets.

Answer

Hirotoshi Korenaga, Senior Vice President in Charge of Accounting, clarified that the correction was not an impairment but a retroactive adjustment for network development costs mistakenly capitalized instead of expensed, assuring operational improvements would prevent recurrence. Korenaga explained that game depreciation follows rules, not all games are capitalized, and the annual value of capitalized game development assets is in the tens of billions of JPY, with depreciation starting upon content launch.

Ask follow-up questions

Fintool

Fintool can predict Sony Group logo SONY's earnings beat/miss a week before the call