Sony said to be sitting on $1.1 billion annual loss, first in 14 years
By Paul Miller 
posted January 13th 2009 10:47AM
posted January 13th 2009 10:47AM
There are plenty of directions to point fingers: trying to be a premium brand in a weak world economy, a strong Yen (harder to export) or difficulties in making the PlayStation 3 profitable, but whatever the cause, it looks like Sony lost $1.1 billion last year, the company's first practical loss in 14 years. Of course, the report isn't official just yet, earnings aren't due until the 29th, and Sony has put out a statement to that effect, with no further comment -- but let's just say this is a pretty widely bandied number at this point. This seems to line up with rumors of additional cost cutting, with 16,000 jobs already cut at Sony thanks to the hard times. But don't worry, the VAIO P with Windows 7 will save us all.
[Via Electronista]
Is just me or is everybody missing the point that alot of there new technologys are starting to come through like OLED,Playstation 3, Blu-ray which sony have major parts in. The playstation 3 should become profitable this year, OLED screens will start to hit and blu rays will become ever more popular as HD fever hits everywhere.
As for brand quality there MP3 players are considered the best around for sound quailty.
Sony is in a better position than some other electronics giants out there.All that being siad they just needs to do what artVandelay said.
Spending all that money to kill HD-DVD not working out for them? That's to bad.
Amen. 1 billion is about what they spent to end the format war isn't it? Heh, rumor says yes.
It wouldn't have been a bad investment if they had kept player prices low afterwards, including low disc prices.
By raising prices again, they gave the online-movie industry enough wiggle room to gain a foothold.
It's got me considering a 360 for the netflix, since I already have a netflix subscription. As for blu, I got it on a laptop and can tote that around to show off blu every now and then, but in 5 - 10 years, I honestly think it will be laserdisced.
That is the fantastic thing about Capitalism... someone (such as Sony) comes out with a new technology or format that is pretty decent, so its competitors (such as Microsoft) design another (not so good) one to stop the first one being a success.
Is that progress or just petty?
How did they take the massive market share they had in the PS2 days and utterly screw it up? It's astonishing really. I put all of the blame on the PS3 really.
Did I use "really" twice in 2 sentences? Where's my coffee?!
Apple and Nintendo ate Sony's lunch. Our family used to buy a lot of Sony products, but not anymore.
The fault lies with the Sony management in the 90s and 00s. They were lazy and simply used the Sony brand to make a quick buck out of inadequate products: All early Sony's LCDs weren't HD ready, their European PVR/DVR was a rebadged budget make and we all know about their attempts to ignore MP3 and stick with ATRAC-only digital PMPs. Well, now they are reaping their "reward" for this arrogant slap-dash attitude. More so than a western company they have national pride to worry about too - I imagine it was pretty humiliating to have to enter a JDA with a Korean rival to produce LCDs. That is why the OLED tv came out - to get one over on the Koreans.
Here in Malaysia, SONY shut down the entire operation of SONY Electronic Manufacturing Service (EMCS) factory located at Bangi, Malaysia that is responsible for Visual product manufacturing, while laying off 500 workers at SONY Precision Engineering Malaysia located at Petaling Jaya, Malaysia that is responsible for Imaging products.
Even my job as sony part time promoter/salesman got axed 20% off salary. not cool.
JT -> Was not the Petaling Jaya, Malaysia factory formerly the Konica Minolta factory for its Dyxum/Maxxum/Alpha products, taken over by Sony for its Alpha brand?
I guess it should have been called "Red" Ray. I mean, why "Blu"? If they'd have been optimistic, they could have called it BlackRay.
So when the year ended, who took a bigger bath, Toshiba or Sony?
If Sony pulls the plug on a PS4, look for Sega to come back to hardware with possibly Sony being OEM, much like the Nintendo/Sony playstation relationship that never panned out.
AWESOME!
Now maybe that skanky smug welsh git will get the sack!
That's what he gets for cancelling Aibo, and the mess that is the PS3.
Hahahaha. Best news all year.
Sony could be bankrupted if the 'economic downturn' carries on long enough and all they sell is expensive products..
Sony is no longer a relevant company. I grew up in the 80s and 90s when a Sony product was worth the little bit of extra money. Now they insist on pressing proprietary standards that benefit only them while continuing to force protection measures on media that only punish the people who actually buy their physical media.
I mean seriously, a Walkman phone that doesn't have a 3.5mm jack? Physical cards in the store (at physical CD prices no less) for a digital download? The Memory stick format that has had to be upgraded how many times to allow for increased storage space? The ATRAC format they finally showed the grave to? Now they bought a victory for their Blu Ray format and it's still not selling well. The PS3 is the least popular gaming console on the market by far.
I could go on but it seems apparent to me that Sony does not understand what people really want. As a company they only want to sell what they want.
Oddly, though, the PS3 is incredibly standards-compliant, using bog-standard USB ports, using vanilla Bluetooth for its wireless, and supporting a broad variety of non-Sony bluetooth devices, it provides a SD card slot, uses standard 2.5" drives, and of course it supports CD and DVD in addition to Blu-Ray (itself an open standard).
It is probably the most open game console ever made.
They still make top-end TV sets, and Blu-ray won the format war.
Sony products are often overpriced...
Still haven't seen a flat panel that looks as good as Sony's XBR CRT sets.
.... and that number includes Sony's 1/2 billion dollars paid out to Warner Bro. to support Blu ray exclusively. Why is it that I'm not surprised? Pigins, you beat me to the punch!
Hmmm... I wonder how much of that 1.1 billion dollars include their 1/2 billion dollars Sony shell out to Warner Bro to kill HD-DVD? LOL!!! Now it's coming back to bite ya, Sony!!! Ouch!!!!!
Booyeah. Fuck Sony, right in the ear.
Cant tank a format without breaking a few fortune cookies. The King is Dead. Long live HD-DVD! (and F-Warner!!)
Monopoly; In economics, a monopoly (from Greek monos , alone or single + polein , to sell) exists when a specific individual or enterprise has sufficient control over a particular product or service to determine significantly the terms on which other individuals shall have access to it.[1] Monopolies are thus characterized by a lack of economic competition for the good or service that they provide and a lack of viable substitute goods.[2] The verb "monopolize" refers to the process by which a firm gains persistently greater market share than what is expected under perfect competition.
Are you referring to Blu-ray?
Sony doesn't "own" Blu-ray, they are just the most prominent backer of the format.
@ Balls
..yup, we are referring to Blu-ray. And, yes, Sony does own Blu-ray (at least a significant portion of it even though other manufactures collaborated with Sony to develop Blu-ray).
The PS3 never became the home hub that it should have. My PS3 should act like an Apple TV and suck media from the families Vaio laptops. It should syncronise with our Sony phones so that we can all share music, photos, and our appointments. It should allow me to watch Sony movies and television shows without any setup other than an internet connection.
I don't believe they ever really tried to make life easier for their customers. Their hardware is great, but it no longer is a competitive edge. The fact that they make a device for almost all consumer needs could provide an edge though, but only if there was integration.
Shouldn't have bought a chinese knock-off PS3 then.
My PS3 streams music and movies from my sony vaio just fine.
Try installing a DLNA server (Tversity is decent enough).
I'm glad Sony are making a huge loss - they thoroughly deserve to!
Although I am encouraged by companies who invest in great, exciting new tech such as OLED, Sony are consistently ripping off their UK customers!
£849 for a Vaio P? I hope no one buys them in the UK - look to your favoured US and Japanese markets Sony!
...you know, it kinda looks like someone is about to give someone a blow job in that picture. LOL!!!!
..Oh! And another thing, I posted something way back in February of 08 (either here or on another site) stating that, "since Sony and Warner Bro are publicly traded companies and are required to publish their profits, earnings, and losses; and if Sony shows a negative earning close to 1/2 billion dollars and Warner shows a positve earning of close to 1/2 billion dollars, then it should put to rest any speculations" of Sony's under-the-table, mafia-style dealings paying Warner Bro to "kill" HD-DVD.
Hence, the evidence is obvious...
I want HD-DVD back!!!!
Why buy from it wen there is products that surpass their quality:
1. Nintendo
2. Samsung
3. Apple
4. Canon
Love and equality for all.
Is that Dr. Oz?
Anyway, Sony is dead to me. I'll never buy a product that uses memory stick, and I prefer Pioneer and Panasonic TVs to Sony. And no way in hell am I buying a phone that requires an adapter to use my favorite 3.5mm headphones.