Sony Announces Third Consecutive Fiscal Year Loss Following Quake, Tsunami

Following Panasonic’s recent revelation of its financial loss caused by the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan, Sony too has come forward revealing a $3.2 billion loss at the end of the last fiscal year.

The New York Times recently reported the loss would be the largest in 16 years for the company, when in 1995 its movie business and the 1995 earthquake in Kobe negatively impacted the company’s earnings.

"The loss would be a major setback to efforts by the chief executive, Howard Stringer, to turn around the company, whose current product lineup includes PlayStation video game consoles, Bravia flat-panel televisions and Vaio laptop computers," wrote the Times’ Hiroko Tabuchi.

Before disaster struck in March, the company was slated to churn a profit for the year. However, because of the damages caused by the earthquake and tsunami, the company will instead report a loss for the third year in a row.

On top of the nine Sony plants that suffered physical damage from the devastation that swept the country’s northeastern coast, the supply chains were also disrupted as a result, further slowing domestic consumption, said the Times.

The hacker attacks on Sony’s online network was also of no help, causing the company to temporarily shut down the PlayStation Network--possibly exposing the personal information of more than 100 million of its users. While acknowledging the breach in security, the financial ramifications have not yet been calculated.

Sales for the fiscal year were estimated at 7.18 trillion yen (about $87.9 billion), down from its previous forecast of 7.20 trillion yen (about $88.2 billion), according to the Times. The company did hint at a positive turn to be expected later this year, although no specifics were given to support this notion.

Sony has its hand in many different pots, from movies to gaming to laptops. Here at Vernon Computer Source, along with our U.K. affiliate Hamilton Rentals, we carry several of Sony’s electronic products, whether companies come looking for a laptop or even a 3D projector rental. Contact us to learn more.