Sony posts strong quarterly results

Electronics giant's first full quarter after unveiling reorganization plans is a strong one; gaming sector continues to rake in profits.

Last September, Sony announced a worldwide reorganization plan that included centralizing decision-making and cutting 10,000 jobs by 2008. The move appears to be paying dividends, as the company has today released its generally positive third-quarter results, which included a revised projection on its bottom line for the year. Instead of losing 10 billion yen (almost $86 million) for the year ending March 31, 2006, the company now looks to make 70 billion yen ($601 million) in net profits.

The company's PlayStation 2 and PSP-inclusive Game division played its part in the turnaround, raking in profits more than 50 percent higher than it claimed for last year's third quarter. While PS2 sales suffered, the PSP's first holiday season in worldwide release was sufficiently strong to lift the division's profits from 44.6 billion yen ($383 million) to 67.8 billion yen (almost $583 million). However, the company said those improvements were partially offset by aggressive research and development spending for the PlayStation 3.

One interesting note to come out of the report is that PSP hardware shipments have overtaken PS2 shipments for the first time. The company shipped 6.22 million PSPs for the third quarter, but only 5.36 million PS2s. Game shipments were another story entirely, as the PS2 saw 93 million games shipped (a decrease from the previous year's 109 million) while the PSP ramped up shipments to 14.5 million games. That's up from 1.2 million units for the same quarter the year before, which saw the Japanese launch of the system.

While the company's PlayStation 2 and PSP-inclusive Game division continued to do well, the biggest reasons for the company's revised annual expectations were found elsewhere. Sony credited the rosy outlook to unexpectedly strong performances from its Electronics and Financial Services divisions. Sales on the company's TVs and PCs were particularly strong, the company said. The company's film division, Sony Pictures, was the only one to post a loss for the quarter, ending up 400 million yen ($3.4 million) in the red thanks to box office disappointments like The Legend of Zorro and Zathura.

122 Comments

  • MeTaL-HeaD

    Posted Feb 8, 2006 2:42 pm PT

    LUST FOR BLOOD, A BLIND CRUSADE!!!

    Great News, SONY Keep it up and I hope wait I know same results gonna come with PS3.

    NOW YOU'VE GOT SOMETHING TO DIE FOR!!! [couldnt help posting the lyrics lol]

  • th3princ3

    Posted Feb 8, 2006 2:04 pm PT

    I really despise Sony b/c their fanbase is HUGE!!!And their cutting jobs to get even more money.....

  • pleasureinevil

    Posted Feb 6, 2006 8:31 pm PT

    A wealthy Sony is a happy Sony.

  • darkone778

    Posted Feb 6, 2006 5:17 am PT

    Now i find it funny someone mentioned that sony should be scared because microsoft is pushing HD-DVD and not Blu-Ray. My question to them becomes why should SONY be worried when they have the some of the biggest computer makers in the business between dell and hp on blu rays side. You forget that its the hardware makers like Dell and HP that determine what drives windows will read. Because well needless to say if Microsoft dont share that source code with these guys for Windows there are other alternative OS that they can use. I.E. FreeBSD, linux, unix sun, etc. so in the end I think it should be Microsoft that should be more worried about who they seem to be supporting in this format war.

  • game_king666

    Posted Feb 6, 2006 12:33 am PT

    Good on them, sony rules

  • nocoolnamejim Site moderator

    Posted Feb 5, 2006 10:59 am PT

    Of course Sony is the ONLY company taking approach of cutting jobs to make money. No OTHER company would ever do such a thing. End Sarcasm.

  • CommonerChaos

    Posted Feb 5, 2006 8:44 am PT

    Sony is a strong company, and they show that they will be around for a long time...

  • strangestguy

    Posted Feb 4, 2006 4:44 pm PT

    their cutting jobs but its said its decision making jobs so it cant be that bad ... it means less "bureaucratie" more action

  • Nafe

    Posted Feb 4, 2006 2:16 am PT

    This is why working at some places no matter how could you are you can just get FIRED (sorry laid off is too much of a cover up word for the word FIRED) because of money.

    Yes I hate euphasmisms.

  • remdiel

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 12:22 pm PT

    I was talking about this format war to my younger brother, that is a genius in hardware (even if english is not my native language and I can't type "genious" correctly), and we both agreed on one thing.

    Did anyone realize that the PS3 will play about anything that has a shape close to a CD?

    That this means that DVD's will also be read?
    That your DVD can still hold excellent games?

    That market researchers in any company that makes more than 100,000 dollars a year are not brainless monkeys, or fifth grade students?

  • MrS

    Posted Feb 3, 2006 11:37 am PT

    That's great news mayby that now the have made a lot of profit they could give ps3 for free and still not lose anything. Dont you think.

  • kamillebidan92

    Posted Feb 2, 2006 3:06 pm PT

    GOOD FOR SONY

  • damned_beast

    Posted Feb 1, 2006 7:04 pm PT

    i dont really care much for sony but thats a diffrent way of things

  • SexiestManAlive

    Posted Jan 30, 2006 11:09 pm PT

    10,000 jobs cut by 2008? That's nothing. That's two full years from now and that's only 5 grand a year. Look at Micron or HP or any other technology company. They cut way more than 5000 a year sometimes. You know how many people work for Sony? Companies HAVE to cut jobs. They do it all the time. Plus, it's not the VALUABLE employees who are getting cut. It's the crap jobs that a monkey could be trained to do. Plus, if an applicant has SONY on their resume, that means more work for them. It might be sad, but if you don't like it, then stay at the bottom of the ladder and don't bother getting up.

  • SexiestManAlive

    Posted Jan 30, 2006 11:02 pm PT

    A lot of people think that a big corporation like Sony making a oodles of money is a bad thing. It is most definitely NOT a bad thing! The more money they make, the more kick ass games we play! Plus, if they're making more money than they thought, that means that the Playstation 3 will be cheaper because they can afford to lose more and make more competition for the market, making a FAR better situation for the consumer: You and me, my friends.

  • mythrol

    Posted Jan 30, 2006 7:17 pm PT

    Sure Sony makes money. . .at the cost of firing 10,000 people. I like how the post profits by pushing to side the fact that 10,000 are losing their jobs. BUT WE MADE A PROFIT! If all people can see is the fact that they're making a profit without taking into the account the fact that all those people are losing their jobs, then you're a sad, sad person. The bottom line doesn't look too good for those 10,000 people who are jobless.

  • Sprules

    Posted Jan 30, 2006 7:07 pm PT

    The sheer fact that Microsoft is supporting HD-DVD adamently should have Sony scared. So Sony penetrates a little bit of the market with Blu-Ray with the PS3. But do you know what's coming out this year? No it's not the HD-DVD addon for the X360, that's right, it's the next Windows OS and I have no doubt Microsoft is going to push the use of HD-DVD through their software. If that is the case then Sony has already lost, leaving the company with a huge loss and a console with a dead expensive medium. Good luck Sony, you're going to need it.

  • ryokinshin

    Posted Jan 30, 2006 2:26 pm PT

    a risk would be pricing ps3 at 1k american, but given their record of ps1, ps2 and psp it would seem that they know wat their doing

  • franky4fangr

    Posted Jan 29, 2006 8:24 pm PT

    good point....id like to add though that the only contenders for dvd at the time were not very appealing. The blue ray will be instrumental in sony's success. Dont get me wrong i have nothing but faith in blue-ray but imagine if it doesnt pick up people (outside of the gaming community) are used to dvd and can easily relate to hd-dvd. how will sony justify having blue ray in their system if the only people who would be using it are gamers. there would be no point in producing any more movies in that format and they would have wasted millions on a flopped format. im just sayin its possible and if it happens those "risks" that sony takes could wind them up in some hot water

  • samharsh12

    Posted Jan 29, 2006 8:50 am PT


    LunarDuality
    No one seems to be commenting on the fact that the entire company made approx. $601 million in net profit and the Games division accounts for approx. $583 million of that.

    So, 18 million is barely making a profit? give me a break. The game division is not going to suddenly disappear and leave sony with nothing. Second blu-ray or hd-dvd, who cares? Sony having the blu-ray in it's PS3 will ensure that blu-ray will survive the format war, whether or not hd-dvd wins or not. Think about it, I can buy a ps3($399-599) watch hd movies and play games or I can buy an x-box 360 ($299-399) play games and than buy an accessorie hd-dvd($200 or more I feel this would be a logical price start considering new technology and microsoft alread losing so much on the 360) or blu-ray drive ( probably a heftier price tag) some time in the future. Parents and gamers are not going to go out and buy an hd-dvd player right away but the will buy a ps3 see hd movies on blu-ray and continue to buy blu-ray discs to watch more movies, does everyone forget that sony ushered in the dvd age with the ps2?

    yboucher
    yeah, god knows the almighty corporate dollar is more important than anyone putting food on their table...

    We seem to be a little narrow minded. Hmmm....10000 jobs or all of the jobs at Sony. It seems we forget that a company needs to make a profit or they will go out of business and with it more jobs will be lost. While it sucks it is the way things are.

  • Furbyballistik

    Posted Jan 29, 2006 4:59 am PT

    thats really cool!! damn i really happy now, cuz i kno that with tha more money sony is making, then the better tha playstation 3 is gonna be!!! well u kno y sony is tha best?? cuz they do everything for there consumers!! they do wat will make us happy!! and they really do a good job!! horay sony!!!

  • McLarenAK47

    Posted Jan 28, 2006 6:29 pm PT

    its all good

  • deadesa

    Posted Jan 28, 2006 3:35 pm PT

    and MS isnt...?

  • gsg92

    Posted Jan 28, 2006 1:04 pm PT

    sony is evil

  • The_Capitan

    Posted Jan 28, 2006 11:57 am PT

    Viva la Sony!!!!!!!!

  • Linkzie

    Posted Jan 28, 2006 7:13 am PT

    Someone know how much GTA:LCS has sold?

  • MaSt3RT57

    Posted Jan 27, 2006 11:13 pm PT

    This is good news for us consumers, but think about the people who lost their jobs because of the cut. It's sad of course, but it is business.

  • 007christmas007

    Posted Jan 27, 2006 10:24 pm PT

    Ship games??? I dont't recall them selling many for the psp...they need something big....GTA wasn't as good as i thought it'd be...but it's sony..those rich nuts.

  • wackoss

    Posted Jan 27, 2006 5:08 pm PT

    Now all Sony needs to drop are their other electronics except maybe televisions.

    PS2 and the future of the PS3 looks good. Poor game sales for PSP? I wonder why?

    In regards to someone mentioning the need for Blu-Ray to be successful - that isn't really the issue. What they do need is for the PS3 to be a success. If that becomes big, blu-ray will undoubtly follow.

  • MeTaL-HeaD

    Posted Jan 27, 2006 2:06 pm PT

    Muhuhuhuhuhahhahahahhahahahhahahhahahaha....

  • boo_dat

    Posted Jan 27, 2006 1:49 pm PT

    personally, I respect SONY for pouring so much time and effort into the PS3...I mean, it just looks to me that they're more dedicated to pushing out something worth our (gamer's) time...I'm not a 'fanboy' or a consumer of one brand...but for me, it just looks like SONY really takes it's gaming seriously...and by "seriously", I mean they're willing to make huge risks and willing to lose a lot of money just for the sake of gaming! Personally, I hope SONY wins the console wars once again, just to show everyone that risks do pay off!

  • woohooforme

    Posted Jan 27, 2006 1:22 pm PT

    [This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

  • woohooforme

    Posted Jan 27, 2006 1:21 pm PT

    "Jubei_Hikari :"ninplaybox 720" That was good. One Problem: X-Men belongs to FOX." Yeah there's a problem with that too, it belongs to MARVEL and the game is made by ACTIVISION/VICARIOUS VISIONS!!

  • impatientfire

    Posted Jan 27, 2006 11:47 am PT

    Awesome, good job Sony

  • makemeweak

    Posted Jan 27, 2006 11:42 am PT

    Cutting 10,000 jobs!?! That sounds like Ford - which is a company in terrible shape. Boo to Sony for mismanaging their money and making their employees pay for it.

  • painpas

    Posted Jan 27, 2006 11:29 am PT

    Sony advanced the home console market and now are doing it with the handheld market. Good hardware and the games always get better. Nintendo has their first real competition in this market. and Sony has helped their DS system take off. The DS is riding Sony's wave of wanting to enter that market and as usual they have good games for there portable system so there has not been a take over. Honestly though I had both and from what I see with almost all the major releases for the DS already out and after Metroid, Mario and FF whats left? Also I honestly believe that the only thing that is holding the PSP back is its price.

  • rickycrossley

    Posted Jan 27, 2006 10:45 am PT

    sony is a hartless corperation getting rid of jobs$ for more profit they have no hart there evil ! long live mario !

  • jaefrmbk2k

    Posted Jan 27, 2006 9:28 am PT

    i kno alot of you guys have been asking and wondering and this is gonna saound totally crazy but i have to come out of the closet and admit that i am a rabid Sony fan. have you seen the new Sony Walkman? It's like CHEESE you can listen to OUTSIDE

  • bamf03

    Posted Jan 27, 2006 8:16 am PT

    According to Forbes top 2000 list, Sony sales for fiscal year ending 2005 were $71.82 billion and a net profit of $850 million. Sony are ranked at 123 biggest companies in the world, Microsoft are at 43, Nintendo at 708. The ranking is based of assets, net profits, sales and Market value.
    Sony spends an incredible amount of money each year on parts and R&D. Just think how much was spent on R&D for their robot division. They're cutting production lines to unnecessary products like the Qrio and Aibo. R&D in the AI area which was developed in the AIBO and QRIO businesses will continue and will be deployed in a broad range of consumer electronics products.
    Remember Sony always make a profit each year, sometimes they lose some money, like how they predicted to lose money for the first time since 10 years ago. You get lots of articles about how Sony is to lose money and so many think that Sony will end up bankrupt. This is because they're getting confused with losing money to not making as much money as they did the previous year. It’s the articles that are wrong. Sony can make a net profit of $1 billion one year, then a year later make a net profit of $800 million. Then there's articles saying Sony loses %20, when really that’s not the case because they still made a profit and didn't lose any money at all.
    I new Sony would make some from there TV division as the Sony bosses stated at CES that their Bravia LCD range had the biggest sale in the US out of any other LCD, and that took Sony from the 8th biggest LCD maker to the 3rd biggest in the world. Which is not bad considering that Sony was very late to the market with LCD production.
    The cell and blu-ray will be used in other Sony products which will give a boost to all divisions. Just think if blu-ray wins over the HD format war, then every company would want to use blu-ray in their products. More money for Sony in licensing fees.
    To the guys who say that the PSP just has ports. I like to say, so does the DS. There's like 4 or 5 games that are having big sales on the DS but the rest of the bunch are not even getting a look. And these games I'm bored with. Mario Kart is so over-rated, its a good game but not brilliant. Same as the N64 version, that was not that great. The snes version was the best because it was new. I just think the gameplay is out-dated. I think many missed the old Nintendo classics because they enjoyed them so much as kids, but lets face it, every game is good when your a kid. I have a disc for PC with 500 sega classics and 400 snes classics and I find them all boring now. Its the same with cartoons when we were kids, great then but have you seen the old cartoons recently, they're crap. I want Metroid Prime for the DS because the demo is good. The only thing I can think of not making it a great game is the gfx.

  • ufopuller

    Posted Jan 27, 2006 8:11 am PT

    Makes sense

  • NICKnPSL

    Posted Jan 27, 2006 6:22 am PT

    wow they really didnt even do all that well i mean if you figure yeah they made a profit and obviously made money when they thought they were going to lose money but still not that much to profit for a company as big as sony is

  • Linkzie

    Posted Jan 27, 2006 2:01 am PT

    PSP is going bigger and bigger! It sells better than the cheesy DS in Europa and in US (considered it was released later), now is Japan turn to be owned... Give the PSP more RPGs and that is done ^_^.

  • flavin

    Posted Jan 26, 2006 11:27 pm PT

    Instead of losing 86 million by the end of march ( sonys gonna lose lots of money from the ps3 is this a sign? i dont think so) they plan to make 106 million in net (isnt that after the fact like with game sales?)

    honestly i hope it doesnt come out till its 100% and commin out with a load of great games.

  • TryMe01

    Posted Jan 26, 2006 10:58 pm PT

    what does this mean to us gamers...?

  • L0n3W01F

    Posted Jan 26, 2006 10:56 pm PT

    Long live Sony !

  • IsmirZone

    Posted Jan 26, 2006 10:51 pm PT

    I care how much I pay. They can care how much they make...Somwhere in the middle we will agree.

  • darkjor

    Posted Jan 26, 2006 10:33 pm PT

    "After reading the two articles: Sony (as a whole company with all divisions) profits=$601 million Nintendo profits = $792 million And yet people still claim Nintendo is going to go under... Bwahahaha!"
    That's something i still don't understand... well maybe, everyone who says that are fanboys

  • masterofTS

    Posted Jan 26, 2006 9:59 pm PT

    Good. If they are smart with the PS3 they'll be insanely rich!

  • sydneylostarot

    Posted Jan 26, 2006 9:04 pm PT

    if you look what the downsizing sony is making is all about, you'll understand they're not firing people as most of you think. they're encouraging senior employees with 15-20 years in the company to enter their retirement plan. and that's not like leaving people unemployed at all

  • hush404

    Posted Jan 26, 2006 8:22 pm PT

    The only dept that lost was the movie side? and only 3.6mill? Damn, just a year or so ago I heard Sony was loosing money like crazy and their games end was the only thing making any profit.

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