The Japanese giant bought Columbia for $3.4 billion in 1989.

He became chairman in 1983 after Coca-Cola bought Columbia.

Mr. Neale offered to buy Columbia for $68 a share.

William S. Paley was the one who bought Columbia.

William S. Paley bought Columbia a year later and used it to promote entertainment and news programming.

That may be the first benefit of buying Columbia.

But that was only the second year it did so since Sony bought Columbia and other assets in 1989 for $3.4 billion, company executives have said.

Sony bought Columbia for $3.4 billion last year in the first major acquisition of a Hollywood studio by a Japanese company.

Sony bought Columbia, and promised to keep its hands off it, because American movies are so popular around the world.

Mr. Price's first windfall came in 1982 when Coca-Cola bought Columbia, where he had been chairman for four years.