Sony Wallows As TV, Gaming & Camera Sales Slump

Sony promised profits but all they delivered was another sea of red-ink losses for the seventh straight quarter with TVs gaming, digital cameras and smartphone sales all falling.The second-quarter net loss totalled $194 million, despite claims by the new management team in May that the Company would turn a profit this quarter. Worth $120 Billion in 2001, the Company is now worth less than $11Billion and falling in value as investors dump the stock.

Sony is now moving to cut jobs again, with up to 10,000 jobs set to go in the latest round of cuts and asset sales. “The operating environment for Sony continued to be severe primarily due to a slowing of the global economy,” Sony said in a statement last night.

Chief Executive Officer Kazuo Hirai said in May that he intended to focus on mobile devices, games and digital imaging to turn the struggling Company that has never made a profit selling TVs around.

In 2012 SCE Australia, who sells the struggling Sony PlayStation, reported that revenue had plunged from $233,480,000 in 2011 to $176,282,000 million in 2012.

Profits have also slumped more than 23% to $3,516,000 from a high of $4,664,000 in 2011.

At Sony Australia profits fell from $21M in 2011 to $6M in 2012.

After four consecutive annual losses Sony’s future looks bleak.

“TV sales are worsening this year amid economic downturns in the U.S. and Europe,” Junya Ayada, an analyst at Daiwa Securities Co. in Tokyo told Businessweek. “As the global recession continues, consumers are no longer spending much money on electronic products, as they now have a smartphone that can satisfy most of their needs.”

The maker of Bravia TVs, PlayStation consoles and Vaio computers kept its full-year net income forecast unchanged at 20 billion yen and operating profit at 130 billion yen. The sales estimate was reduced to 6.6 trillion yen from 6.8 trillion yen.

Sony has now cut its annual TV sales target to 14.5 million units from 15.5 million units. The business, slated to post a ninth consecutive loss this year, will turn profitable next fiscal year Chief Financial Officer Masaru claims.

Operating loss at the home-entertainment unit, which includes the TV operations, shrank to 15.8 billion yen in the quarter ended Sept. 30 compared with 41.8 billion yen a year earlier.

During the past two years Sony has walked away from two key TV partnerships with Sharp and Samsung. Consumers are now turned off buying a Sony Bravia TV which is now made by third party manufacturers in China.

Full-year compact camera sales estimates have been reduced to 16 million units from 18 million units; they have also cut their estimates for game players this year to 10 million and personal computers to 8.5 million units.

Sony’s run of four straight full-year losses, the worst since it listed in 1958, and a stronger yen pushed the shares to an intraday low of 849 yen on Sept. 5. That’s the lowest level for the stock since April 1980, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.