Sony has reported this week that the company, for the fiscal year ended March 31st, had a loss of $1.04 billion USD, the first time the company has reported a loss since 1995. Perhaps even more notably, the company said it expects a bigger loss in upcoming quarters as sales slide and the Yen grows stronger against the US Dollar.
Revenue for the period also fell 13 percent to $81 billion USD, with the company blaming a number of factors including "the slowdown of the global economy, the appreciation of the yen and the decline in the Japanese stock market."
The "PlayStation" division saw the biggest slowdown in sales year-on-year, mainly due to the strengthening Yen and a large decrease in sale of the aging PlayStation 2. Revenue in the division fell to $10.7 billion USD. Operating profit losses were cut in half however, to $597 million USD, thanks mostly to large reductions in the cost of manufacturing the PlayStation 3 gaming console.
Over 10 million PS3 units were sold for the year, along with 14 million PSPs and 8 million PS2 units. Software sales exploded for the PS3, up almost 100 percent to 103.7 million units. PSP software sales saw a decline of 10 percent.
For the Q4 2008, Sony reported that the Yen was 13 percent more expensive versus the USD and 30 percent more expensive versus the Euro compared to the fiscal year before it. For the upcoming year, Sony is predicting a $1.26 billion USD loss.
The "PlayStation" division saw the biggest slowdown in sales year-on-year, mainly due to the strengthening Yen and a large decrease in sale of the aging PlayStation 2. Revenue in the division fell to $10.7 billion USD. Operating profit losses were cut in half however, to $597 million USD, thanks mostly to large reductions in the cost of manufacturing the PlayStation 3 gaming console.
Over 10 million PS3 units were sold for the year, along with 14 million PSPs and 8 million PS2 units. Software sales exploded for the PS3, up almost 100 percent to 103.7 million units. PSP software sales saw a decline of 10 percent.
For the Q4 2008, Sony reported that the Yen was 13 percent more expensive versus the USD and 30 percent more expensive versus the Euro compared to the fiscal year before it. For the upcoming year, Sony is predicting a $1.26 billion USD loss.
