AfterDawn: News

Sony reports first annual loss in 14 years

Sony has reported this week that the company, for the fiscal year ended March 31st, had a loss of $1.04 billion USD, the first time the company has reported a loss since 1995. Perhaps even more notably, the company said it expects a bigger loss in upcoming quarters as sales slide and the Yen grows stronger against the US Dollar.

Revenue for the period also fell 13 percent to $81 billion USD, with the company blaming a number of factors including "the slowdown of the global economy, the appreciation of the yen and the decline in the Japanese stock market."



The "PlayStation" division saw the biggest slowdown in sales year-on-year, mainly due to the strengthening Yen and a large decrease in sale of the aging PlayStation 2. Revenue in the division fell to $10.7 billion USD. Operating profit losses were cut in half however, to $597 million USD, thanks mostly to large reductions in the cost of manufacturing the PlayStation 3 gaming console.

Over 10 million PS3 units were sold for the year, along with 14 million PSPs and 8 million PS2 units. Software sales exploded for the PS3, up almost 100 percent to 103.7 million units. PSP software sales saw a decline of 10 percent.

For the Q4 2008, Sony reported that the Yen was 13 percent more expensive versus the USD and 30 percent more expensive versus the Euro compared to the fiscal year before it. For the upcoming year, Sony is predicting a $1.26 billion USD loss.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 14 May 2009 15:59

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• 11 comments

• ZippyDSM

  Losses are good it means they are forced to think and change.
  
  When you are protected from everything by the government(via laws or bailouts) then all that's left is stagnation.

  14.5.2009 18:55 #1

• varnull

  good.. serves them right..
  

  
  
  Free open source software = made by end users who want an application to work.
  I would rather you hate me for who I am than love me for what I am not.
  “It is poor civic hygiene to install technologies that could someday facilitate a police state.” - Bruce Schneier

  14.5.2009 20:54 #2

• HDNow

  Not even a record.
  
  Same fiscal year ending March 31st:
  
  Toshiba lost $3.5 billion.
  
  http://www.myfox8.com/business/sns-ap-as...0,1945702.story
  
  Hitachi lost $8.1 billion.
  
  http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/arti...7PWbLAD984LIBG0
  
  Sony's $1.04 billion looks small compared to these 2.

  14.5.2009 21:15 #3

• H08

  Originally posted by varnull: good.. serves them right.. for running a buisness and making a loss? i know alot of people are against sony and other big companys because of being against piracy but come on.

  14.5.2009 22:10 #4

• Morreale

  Oh no, a company is against the theft of their goods :/
  
  lol

  14.5.2009 22:27 #5

• jony218

  Many people stop buying from Sony after that "rootkit" fiasco. But for a company that is very anti-pirate, they sure make some of the best blank DVD media available.

  14.5.2009 22:29 #6

• plutonash

  They don't make those blank DVDs. Some other company does and they stamp there name on it. Sony is garbage

  14.5.2009 22:56 #7

• Toshibot

  Originally posted by HDNow: Not even a record.
  
  Same fiscal year ending March 31st:
  
  Toshiba lost $3.5 billion.
  Hitachi lost $8.1 billion.
  
  Sony's $1.04 billion looks small compared to these 2.Ouch!

  14.5.2009 23:15 #8

• H08

  Originally posted by Morreale: Oh no, a company is against the theft of their goods :/
  
  lolexactly what iam saying

  14.5.2009 23:32 #9

• ZippyDSM

  Quote:Originally posted by Morreale: Oh no, a company is against the theft of their goods :/
  
  lolexactly what iam saying
  But are more than happy to steal from others....

  14.5.2009 23:51 #10

• Morreale

  Quote:Quote:Originally posted by Morreale: Oh no, a company is against the theft of their goods :/
  
  lolexactly what iam saying
  But are more than happy to steal from others....Same with every other company. That's business for ya lol

  16.5.2009 13:58 #11