Sony Corp announced on Thursday that it had posted a loss of $5.6 billion for the year. The record loss for the fiscal year is due to overall global turmoil economically, the long term after affects of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan and the floods last fall in Thailand.
The media and consumer electronics giant, which is in reorganization from top to bottom, announced that revenues had dropped by close to 10% to a figure of $79.2 billion during its fiscal year that ended on March 31. That total was down from last year’s fiscal year end revenues of $87.8 billion. The company posted a loss of $5.6 billion, representing $5.55 per share, which was close to double the loss from the prior year of $3.2 billion. Over $3.2 billion of the loss was from a paper loss incurred by writing down tax assets that had been deferred. Sony, last month, warned its investors that the expense hit was to take place as well as the drop in revenue.
Much of the decline in revenue from the past year was because sales of its LCD televisions, personal computers and cameras dropped by over 18.5%. Those along with its PlayStation sales, make up nearly 50% of the total revenue for the company.
Its games and TV business also suffered from more competition from rivals offering lower-cost units that caused Sony to slash it prices. In addition, sales of PCs and digital cameras dropped following floods in Thailand in October that left a number of factories closed for many weeks. Sony estimates that over $170 in sales were lost while the factories were undergoing repairs that cost the company more than $160 million.
