Profit Plummets at Sony

TOKYO: Third-quarter net profit at Sony Corporation plunged 94.8 percent to 10.4 billion yen ($115.9 million), with revenues down 24.6 percent to 2.1 trillion yen ($23.7 billion).

The company also reported a quarterly operating loss, of 18 billion yen, versus the year-ago profit of 236.2 billion yen. The appreciation of the yen, the global economic slowdown, the decline in the stock market and the competitive electronics landscape were all cited as causes for the loss. The Electronics division saw its revenues drop 29.3 percent to 1.5 trillion yen and posted an operating loss of 15.9 billion yen, as compared with last year’s profit of 200.6 billion. The Gaming segment also took a hit, with revenues down 32.2 percent to 393.8 billion yen and profit down 97 percent to 0.4 billion yen, as the sales of PlayStation consoles and games fell. At Sony Pictures, meanwhile, revenues fell 21.8 percent to 175.1 billion yen, and operating income was down 8.3 percent to 12.9 billion yen.