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Sony ups loss forecast to $2 billion following smartphone struggles
Sony is now forecasting a 230 billion yen ($2.15 billion) loss for the fiscal year ending in March 2015, a revision nearly five times more than the company previously projected. The Japanese electronics giant was expecting a 50 billion yen loss, but today it announced it's downgrading the value of its mobiles business by 180 billion yen ($1.68 billion) following an internal review. Sony began the review in July after cutting forecast smartphone sales by 14 percent following a sluggish opening quarter. The mobile business' "mid-range plan" is now no longer focused on growth, but instead designed to "reduce risk and volatility, and deliver more stable profits."
PlayStation 4 sales help Sony post quarterly profit
Sony revealed encouraging quarterly results this morning, with year-on-year sales between April and June boosted primarily by the PlayStation 4's success. The company announced a Q1 net profit of 26.8 billion yen (around $265 million), up no less than 757 percent from the last year's figures. Sales also rose 5.8 percent to 1.8 trillion yen ($17.92 billion), with the PS4 helping the company's gaming division post a 95.7 percent year-on-year rise in revenue. While Sony retained an expected net loss of 50 billion yen ($486 million) for the fiscal year ending March 2015, the company's gaming division raised its sales forecasts in light of the PS4's "strong performance." The division now expects to post operating profit of 25 billion yen ($243 million), up 25 percent from projections. Sony attributed the revision to reduced costs in producing PS4 hardware, with the console already selling at a profit beforehand.
Sony cuts Q2 2012 losses to $198 million, bumps revenue to $20.6 billion thanks to mobile
After losing a whopping $5.7 billion last year and $312 million last quarter, Sony's recent austerity measures seem to be paying off -- the company lost only $198 million in Q2. It's been madly restructuring since CEO Kazuo Hirai came on board last year and recently shuttered a lens plant in Japan while moving its mobile HQ from Sweden to Tokyo. Altogether, 10,000 jobs cuts are projected this year by Sony to help stanch the red ink, and it looks like it's started to pay off. Notably, the company saw a drop in restructuring costs over last year, when it incurred charges during the sell-off of its display businesses. Sony's mobile operations continue to generate more revenue, gaining $3.9 billion this quarter -- more than double last year's numbers -- though it still lost $296 million compared to $356 million in Q1. Its chip plants turned around last year's $230 million Q2 loss to earn $382 million this time, likely due in part to its sensors appearing in a large number of various company's DSLRs. Its own imaging division underperformed a bit compared to last quarter but still made a small gain, while its gaming, music and picture businesses each stayed in the black. Finally, while home entertainment products like TVs and home theater systems still lost $203 million, that's a big improvement over that division's dismal $526 million loss in Q2 2011. Sony is projecting a slight drop in revenue for its fiscal year ending in March 2013, from $85 to $83 billion compared to August's forecast. But the company kept its operating income projection unchanged at $1.6 billion -- thanks to new acquisitions like cloud gamer Gaikai and Olympus, along with such products as the new 84-inch 4K LCD TV and revised PS3 gaming console.
