In 45 years Sony has grown from a small firm, employing 20 workers, to a multinational corporation, employing about 100,000 workers. The company created its American branch in 1960 and its UK branch in 1968. In recent years the company focused on leadership in software and hardware. Sony acquired, in 1988, CBS Records and formed Sony Music Entertainment. A year later the company bought Columbia Pictures to create Sony Pictures Entertainment.