Sony Reports Massive Q3 Loss

Net loss of $2.03 billion.

UK, February 2, 2012

 Sony has posted a massive net loss of $2.03 billion (£1.28 billion) during its third financial quarter, October to December.

The figure is based on its total revenue of $23.37 billion (£14.7 billion), which is down 17.4% on the same period last year. This leaves Sony facing its fourth consecutive year of making a loss. The figures are even more troublesome when you realise that they contain sales from the normally lucrative Christmas period.

Sony's Consumer Products and Services division, which houses all things PlayStation, fared little better, posting a loss of $1.09 billion (£ 688 million) for the quarter. This is despite actual sales of the PS3 being up year-on-year. 6.5 million consoles were sold between October and December, which is 200,000 more than in the same period a year ago.

Similarly, software sales for the PS3 increased: 66.2 million units were sold, a rise of 13% on last year. PSP and PS2, however, continued to decline, as you would expect.

No figures for its newest hardware, PS Vita, were given.

So what's Sony's explanation for these worrying figures? Well, it has several. Sony cited "deterioration in market conditions" and "unfavourable foreign exchange rates". It also highlighted the terrible floods that devastated Thailand (and much of Sony's manufacturing) as another factor.

Sony rose to dominance within the world of consumer electronics by making innovative products: in the eighties, it was the Walkman; in the nineties, it was the PlayStation. But in recent years, competitors have often outstripped the company in terms of innovation. Samsung arguably makes better televisions, and Apple makes more desirable products. So where does Sony go from here?

We already know. Yesterday IGN reported that Kaz Hirai had been appointed as Sony's new CEO. Hirai was integral in the development of the PlayStation brand, one of Sony's last great success stories, and presumably the hope is that he will be able to reproduce that innovation across the company's range of products and services.

On the plus side for Kaz, it's pretty easy to improve things from where they stand now, right? 

by IGN