Sony Goes Down the Pit With $6.4 Billion in Losses

April 11, 2012
By: Miguel Leiva-Gomez

Sony Corp just got its tax credits on file, showing a total loss of $6.4 billion, giving it a fourth straight year of devastating blows. The CEO is now facing even more dilemmas because of this news, making the once-popular electronics firm start to go the way of the dinosaur.

Sony made it clear that it wants to slash 10,000 employees from its staff, totaling a loss of 6 percent of its current global workforce. The company took a plunge the moment that demand for its television business dimmed down significantly. Other companies like Apple and Samsung (News - Alert) have been taking over as top tech rivals, and they're eating Sony's pie quickly.

The company's got a plan, though. To quell the worries of investors, Sony has forecasted a rebound by the end of March 2013. It claims it will have an operating profit, by then, of 180 billion yen, or just over $2 billion. Just how Sony will manage to pull this off isn't clear yet. As far as we know, Sony just raised its net loss forecast from 290 billion yen to 380 billion, totalling about $4.6 billion.

Kazuo Hirai was appointed as Sony's CEO earlier this month, in an attempt to rescue the sinking ship. He described that he would be prepared to take "painful steps" in assisting the company's recovery, meaning that he will pull out of any business that he feels is not helping Sony remain a competitive company. In a statement on Thursday, he will let us know what he wants to do involving the company's future.

Kazuo Hirai, known for putting life back into the PlayStation gaming console with operations cost-cutting strategies, assured everyone that the television business will get up to snuff by the end of 2014. Take note that this will not be easy, as the TV business has lost Sony about $1 billion every year for the last decade.

CFO Masaru Kato said There have been several reasons for Sony's poor performance. He speaks of the yen getting stronger, yet the demand for Sony's products getting weaker.

When asked about whether executives could stand to suffer from the results of the revamping of Sony, Kato said, "We are aiming for a rebound and for this we have made management changes."




Edited by Amanda Ciccatelli


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