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Sony Pictures Entertainment (the movie studio) is a US company. It's a subsidiary of the Japanese company Sony.

Sony Pictures is Japanese in the same way that Budweiser is Dutch.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Pictures_Entertainment

That appears to confirm that they are a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Japan.

Yes. They are an american company that is owned by a Japanese company.

Just the same as the Apple store in your town, which likely has its own LLC or corporate identity, is a company of your state, owned by a company in California.

On the other hand, Sony cameras, for instance, are produced by Sony Japan, rather than an american company owned by Sony. The cameras are merely distributed here.

Apple Sales International, Apple Operations International, Apple Distribution International, and Apple Operations are all headquartered in Ireland, not California. Only a tiny tiny number of specialist Apple people work and pay taxes in the US. All the big tickets (sales/distribution etc) are offshore. Add to that Apple's manufacturing base (China) and I think it safe to say that Apple is no longer an American company.