Sony “reiterated its latest forecast of a record 260 billion yen ($2.9 billion) operating loss for the year ending March 31,” Takenaka reports. “That would be a sharp reversal from a 475.3 billion yen profit in the previous year but in line with the consensus forecast for a 264 billion yen loss in a poll of 10 analysts by Reuters Estimates. As inventories pile up and prices tumble, Sony is feeling the pinch of the downturn in every part of its operations, which range from semiconductors to movies and insurance.”
“Sony reported an operating loss of 17.96 billion yen for the three months to December, down from a 236.22 billion yen profit a year earlier… Net profit at Sony dived 95 percent to 10.4 billion yen on sales of 2.15 trillion yen, down about 25 percent,” Takenaka reports.
“Sony is a long way behind Apple Inc’s iPod portable media player in a music market it created three decades ago with its legendary Walkman,” Takenaka reports. “The maker of PlayStation game machines is also struggling to compete with Nintendo Co Ltd. in video games after a decade of dominance from the mid-1990s. Sony sold 4.46 million PlayStation 3 consoles in the latest quarter, down from 4.9 million units a year earlier. Nintendo is set to announce its quarterly earnings results and game console sales at 0700 GMT.”
Takenaka reports, “To shore up its mainstay electronics operations, Sony is taking restructuring steps including cutting 16,000 jobs and closing five or six plants.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “James W.” for the heads up.]
