Tokyo: Struggling electronics giant, Sony stated that it lost $1.26 billion in the fiscal year to March, blaming costs tied to its exit from the personal computer business as the once-mighty firm undergoes a painful restructuring. The Japanese firm booked a whopping shortfall of 128.37 billion yen ($1.26 billion) and forecast a 50 billion yen net loss in the current fiscal year to March 2015, as its hard-hit television business continued to lose money.
However, revenue increased by 14.3 per cent to 7.76 trillion yen as the firm got a boost from a weak yen, record sales for its new PlayStation 4 videogames console and strong demand for its smartphones. The company's woeful bottom line results come a day after it said it would not pay bonuses to senior executives for the third straight year to atone for its battered finances.
Sony warned this month it would lose more than the 110 billion yen shortfall it had forecast just three months ago, when it said it would cut 5,000 jobs in its struggling computer and television units. Kazuo Hirai, Sony President has led a sweeping restructuring, including asset liquidisation that saw the $1.0 billion sale of Sony's Manhattan headquarters. But Hirai has repeatedly shrugged off pleas to abandon the ailing television unit, which he insists remains central to Sony's core business. Japanese manufacturers have suffered badly in their TV divisions as razor-thin margins and fierce overseas competition weigh on results.
