Sony Reported Near a Stock Offer : Financing: Selling shares would help ease debt from acquiring CBS Records and Columbia Pictures.

Sony Corp. could move ahead as early as this winter with efforts to raise $2 billion to $3 billion by selling shares on the U.S. and Japanese stock markets, sources close to the company have confirmed.

Sony reportedly would use the money to support its Sony Pictures Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment divisions. The Japanese electronics giant has been in discussions with potential Wall Street backers for several months, according to sources.

“I think they’re serious,” one source said. “They have been looking at or thinking about the possibility of spinning off some of their music or film assets for some time now.”

Sony would not comment on the financing effort, which was disclosed in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday.

The company is believed to be exploring the stock sale as a means of easing the enormous debt burden it assumed in acquiring CBS Records for $2 billion in 1988 and Columbia Pictures Entertainment Co. for $3.4 billion, plus $1.5 billion in debt, the following year.

American financial analysts generally applauded the news and predicted success for Sony, but the response was more tepid in Tokyo. Takatoshi Yamamoto, an analyst for Morgan Stanley Japan, said Sony could have a tough time raising money there.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., he noted, had planned to raise almost $2 billion in May or June to help cover the cost of its MCA Inc. acquisition, but changed its mind because of the weak stock market and high interest rates. Securities companies have had trouble raising more than about $200 million because of the weak Tokyo stock market.

Yamamoto said Sony’s capital position has weakened in the past two years because it has insisted on maintaining large investments as the pace of its earnings slowed. Last year the company spent $3.33 billion against a cash flow of $2.67 billion, a shortfall of $656 million.

Since the Columbia purchase, Sony has gone to Tokyo financial markets twice. In February, 1990, it raised almost $3 billion through convertible bonds and warrants and a further $1.7 billion through issuing stock at about $57 a share. Now, Sony’s share price is down to $45.

Boris Petersik, an analyst at the security firm Barclay’s de Zoete Wedd’s Tokyo office, said raising more than $2 billion would be “very difficult” unless Sony sells all or part of its recordings unit after September, when business is expected to improve.

In financial circles, Sony has been accused of overpaying for its movie and television operation in Culver City, just renamed Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have already been poured into studio operations, and Sony is committed to spending more than $100 million on facilities renovation alone.

Sony does not report earnings by division, but analysts said the studio’s cash flow could not possibly cover the $500 million a year required to pay off its debt.

“The hit has been much more painful than they thought it would be,” one company source said. “Now they’re looking for ways--like Time Warner--to lay off some of the burden.”

(Time Warner Inc., the New York media giant, completed a $2.76-billion, fixed-rate rights offering after an earlier variable-rate deal was rebuffed.)

Sources said that Sony will first seek to raise about $800 million in Japan by offering as much as 25% of the Japanese subsidiary of Sony Music. Another $2 billion could be raised by offering part of its U.S. entertainment operations to the public, sources said.

Alan Citron reported from Los Angeles. Leslie Helm reported from Tokyo.