AfterDawn: News

Toshiba: HD DVD cost us $656 million

Last week we reported that Nikkei Business Daily had estimated that Toshiba lost nearly billion dollars (100 billion yen) developing and promoting their high-definition format. Now Toshiba has announced its revised business forecast for the fiscal year 2007 and loss of $656 million (65 billion yen) mainly because of the HD DVD.

Toshiba seems to have gotten away with quite a bit smaller HD DVD loss than expected, but the consolidated forecast also sees lowered profit for the whole company. The loss comes from lower net sales than expected in the previous forecast, which the company says is a reflection of "discontinuation of the HD DVD business and the decline in sales prices of NAND flash memories." The net income was half the amount that the forecast from Octobet 29, 2007 expected.





Written by: Matti Robinson @ 19 Mar 2008 8:29

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• 11 comments

• pisho

  Good for Toshiba, i thought they would have lost more.

  19.3.2008 09:18 #1

• emugamer

  The original estimate seemed a little high. Maybe because it's unfathomable to me that a corporation can't see the warning signs and maybe put the brakes on when the losses start to reach...I don't know.... a couple hundred million. Still can't believe that they spent $3 million on a superbowl ad when the loss was just on the horizon. I guess marketing didn't get the memo. Maybe those are acceptable losses in a war. You can't win without sacrifices, but as we've seen, you can't lose when you sacrifice the most $$$.

  19.3.2008 12:24 #2

• goodswipe

  Ahh, that was a drop in the bucket for Toshiba. Just another day, another dollar.

  19.3.2008 12:57 #3

• Gnawnivek

  Losing face is more important than losing money...

  19.3.2008 14:27 #4

• Hunt720

  Toshiba is a great company and im sure they will try again.

  19.3.2008 18:10 #5

• themind

  I wonder if its afterdawn'able news when sony comes out with there mass losses on the hd front?

  19.3.2008 18:16 #6

• Hunt720

  I think they already did.
  
  In fact there were several articles about Blu-Ray WINNING the format war. ;-P

  19.3.2008 22:00 #7

• Pop_Smith

  Originally posted by goodswipe: Ahh, that was a drop in the bucket for Toshiba. Just another day, another dollar.Well I won't quite call it a "drop" it could have been a lot worse that is for sure.
  
  Personally I am glad to see them pull out when they did, because it shows that while they were determined to fight it out they are (semi?) smart throwing in the towel before it got financially way out of control.
  
  Peace

  20.3.2008 03:33 #8

• Ryu77

  Originally posted by themind: I wonder if its afterdawn'able news when sony comes out with there mass losses on the hd front?Absolutely it is! I also would be interested in these figures, just to prove a point that Sony will still be recovering costs for many years to come. So to all those complaining about the cost of Blu-ray, step back and just think for a second... If this is how much Toshiba sacrificed and lost! Just how much did Sony need to sacrifice to win?
  
  However, Sony still has a format (business model) to eventually generate profit from. Toshiba does not, so their losses can only get worse, not better. As we've seen lately with all the buy back schemes etc.
  
  I am a proud Blu-ray (PS3) owner and I have backed this format from day one. However, I do feel that having these two formats would have been great, if the movie studios could have found a way to be on both formats instead of backing just just one. However, as we know business is a ruthless game where this wouldn't have been possible. Hypothetically if it turned out the other way and HD-DVD did happen to win this format war, I wouldn't have hesitated in purchasing a HD-DVD player. Unlike others on this site, who seem to have said "I do" to their chosen format... lol!

  20.3.2008 05:24 #9

• jove

  its all a conspiracy i tell you! i bet sony payed them to say that! i bet sony even payed afterdawn to post this! i bet sony had the biggest lost since they had to pay warner, fox, blockbuster, nextflix, wallmart, bb, and disny those trillion dollars! Sony had to pay everyone so their even more broke than toshiba!
  
  its usually like this every time of the year for hd dvd! i know it! later on, sales will pick up, the chinese players will flood the market and warner will go exclusive soon! youl see! the sources of the sources of the sources of the sources of my sources told me!

  20.3.2008 05:25 #10

• jove

  ps. toshibas biggest mistake is that they went at it alone! sony didnt! sure sony struggled but not on their own! they werent the only one coming up with the sales!
  
  If this is how much Toshiba sacrificed and lost! Just how much did Sony need to sacrifice to win?

  20.3.2008 05:31 #11