- Monday, 9 November 2009
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Automatic simply means that you can't repair it yourself - Frank Capra
Sony set to post first loss in 14 years
FOR THE FIRST time in 14 years, Japanese consumer electronics firm, Sony, is set to post a group operating loss and a rather large one at that. Co-patriot firms, Toshiba and Canon, are not looking too clever either, leaving many to wonder what's going wrong in the Asian market.
Way back in October, when the credit crunch was only just beginning to bore the pants off us, Sony made the ill fated prediction it would make a full-year operating profit of 200 billion yen.
Well, Yen-know what folks? That prediction was a little off, with the Nikkei business newspaper now reporting the firm may fess up to a group operating loss of around 100 billion yen ($1.12 billion) in the year ending March 31. If this turns out to be the case, it will be only the second time Sony has reported an operating loss since it went public in 1958.
Already ja-panicking, the firm last month said it planned to hand up to 16,000 workers worldwide their pink slips and significantly cut back on investments in its electronics business by 30 per cent till 2010. The company has also made several ominous predictions about upping the outsourcing ante.
Of course, it's not difficult to see why the consumer electronics sector is suffering. One only really has to look to the fact that in the US alone, 1.9 million jobs have been magically made to disappear in the last quarter, bringing unemployment levels to an unsettling 7.2 per cent. And strangely enough, people without jobs and little prospects of getting a new one any time soon can't usually afford to spend a mint on cutting edge Japanese electronics. As much as they might want to.
Another factor contributing to Sony's loss is the strong Yen, which is currently making Japanese exports rather uncompetitive on the world stage. Flagging sales in the flat-screen TV market and sagging demand for home appliances haven't helped much either, as punters suck in the fat and spend less.
All eyes are now on Sony's Welsh-born chairman and chief exec, Sir Howard Stringer, to see whether the firm's board gives him more freedom to turn the company around, or gives him the boot.
But the immediate effects were felt by shareholders. Soon after the Nikkei's report, Sony shares took a tumble of about nine per cent, whilst Tosh's dropped 8.6 per cent and Canon's slumped 7.2 per cent. µ
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I think Sony's official response to this says it all: "Sony understands that a story appeared in the media regarding Sony's expectations on operating results for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2009. Sony has made no announcement in this regard and at this time has no further comment."
You can try read the "full" comment (http://www.sony.com/ces/products/computers.php?ref=http%3A//www.sony.com/index.php) but you won't go any further. That's about it!
It couldn't happen to a nicer rootkit, er, ah, er, company.
The Games division is doing quite well, PS2 and PSP are very profitable, as are PS3 software sales, the PS3 hardware is these days close to break even.
It's the other Sony divisions that are not so healthy.
Still I suppose it's still trendy to PS3Hate right? (you have to wonder how Microsoft can produce tens of millions of RROD consoles and still the sheep love them).
How about "too expensive" and "too proprietory"?
If it weren't for his outlandish ideas for the PlayStation 3, Sony might not be in this mess and may have absorbed the current crisis. The idea to force BluRay onto the market caused Sony to lose massive amounts of money to sell each PS3. While they are getting closer to break even they would love to have back those several billion dollars they lost on the PlayStation 3.
And for those who think it's only Microsoft with buggy and broken consoles. I wonder why no one has investigated Sony for selling defective PlayStation 3's with Bluray drive failures and the now infamous YLOD "Yellow Light of Death" as it's commonly referred to on the Sony PlayStation 3 forums.
They should have posted such a loss BEFORE they've managed to BRIBE everyone into using BluRay instead of HD-DVD. Now we're stuck with the EXTREMELY HIGH PRICED BluRay Discs :( and there’s no competition to drive the prices down .
Maybe they just need to come with another root kit to fix this problem.
It's because they're customer service sucks and if your PS3 is even 1 month out of warranty and you get the YLOD they make you pay $150 even though it's their faulty hardware and they should've offered a longer warranty than just a year. Sony's customer service is one of the worst I've had the displeasure of dealing with.