Tough Pill: Sony Swallows $115 Million Net Loss

Posted 02/07/2013 at 9:31am | by Paul Lilly

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Slumping TV and game sales led Sony to post a third quarter loss.

Sony reported its financial earnings (PDF) for its third fiscal quarter ended December 31, 2012, noting that it generated revenue of $22.4 billion, up 6.9 year-over-year. Unfortunately for Sony, it added up to a net loss of $115 million, though there's actually a couple of reasons why the company shouldn't be too disappointed. For one, that's compared to a $1.7 billion loss a year prior. And secondly, Sony ended up with an operating profit of $534 million for the quarter, putting the company in the black for its fiscal year.

The same can't be said for Sony's TV division, which suffered a ninth straight year in the red. Sony said its "sales decreased significantly primarily in the HE&S segment, resulting from a decrease in LCD television unit sales, and in the Game segment." Looking ahead, Sony reduced its TV sales forecast by a million units, and also expects a decrease in Blu-ray player sales.

Sony also noted a decrease in gaming sales, including hardware and software related to the PlayStation 3 (PS3) and PlayStation Portable (PSP), which were partially offset by sales of the PlayStation Vita introduced in December 2011.

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