Game

[Borys]

`

[maxy]

PS4

Wrong,past doesn't matter to shareholders,they buy shares in hope that will they rise in the future.Expect to hear something about PS4 very soon.

[Stoney Mason]

Sony Swings to Big Loss After Natural Disasters
 
By HIROKO TABUCHI
 


TOKYO — The March 11 earthquake and tsunami probably pushed Sony to a $3.2 billion loss in the just-ended fiscal year, the electronics and entertainment giant warned Monday, the latest Japanese manufacturer to report a huge economic hit from the disaster.



The annual loss would be Sony’s biggest in 16 years, a major setback to chief executive Howard Stringer’s drive to turn around the once-legendary maker of PlayStation video game consoles, Bravia flat-panel TVs and Vaio laptops.

Sony suffered damage at nine plants in northeastern Japan in the quake and tsunami, which also disrupted supply chains and put a damper on domestic consumption. A series of hacker attacks on Sony’s online services, which forced the company to temporarily shut down its PlayStation Network, has also clouded the outlook for the Japanese manufacturer.

After assessing the damage, Sony said Monday in a preliminary earnings statement that it expected to report a net loss of 260 billion yen ($3.2 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2011, from a previous forecast for a profit of 70 billion yen. The company reports full earnings on Thursday.

Much of the net loss came from a 360 billion yen provision for deferred tax assets the company is making in light of the uncertain outlook for future earnings. It left its forecast for annual operating profit unchanged at 200 billion yen ($2.4 billion).

For the current fiscal year ending March 2012, Sony said it expected operating profit to stay around 200 billion yen. This took into account the lingering effects of the quake, which will likely shave 150 billion yen off operating profit, Sony said.

Known costs related to the hacker attacks have so far reached about 14 billion yen, Sony estimated. Sony has said it hopes to get all affected networks up and running by the end of May.

Sales for the current year would likely come to about 7.18 trillion yen, down slightly from 7.20 trillion yen, it said. Sony said it expected net profit to turn positive this year, though it did not give an estimate.

Sony’s earthquake woes have come at a time the company is struggling to reinvent itself after being usurped in TVs and digital music players. Even its stronghold in the video gaming business is succumbing to cheaper and nimbler rivals. Sony has now lost money three years in a row.

The only time Sony racked up a larger annual loss was in 1995, when it plunged 293 billion yen into the red on large losses in its movie division and lax cost controls. Japan’s last devastating earthquake, which hit the port town of Kobe in January that year, also weighed on Sony’s earnings that year. But back then, Sony’s mainstay electronics business was still relatively strong.

Looking forward, the fallout from the hacker attacks, which forced Sony to shut down its PlayStation Network in late April, may be just as worrying as the lingering effects of the March 11 quake. Sony has acknowledged that personal information from over 100 million accounts were compromised in the attacks.

In an interview last month, Mr. Stringer defended Sony’s response to the attacks, which some critics have said was too slow.

Sony is the latest Japanese manufacturer to report substantially lower earnings following the magnitude 9 earthquake in March, which devastated much of Japan’s northeastern coast.

Earlier this month, Toyota, whose operations have been severely disrupted since the disaster, said that profit fell 77 percent for the quarter ended March 31. Toyota, which is likely to lose its crown as the world’s biggest automaker this year, said it could not forecast earnings or production for the year ahead because of uncertainty about its ability to resume normal output levels.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/24/technology/24sony.html

[CurseoftheGods]

PS3 is like the Dreamcast without the good games.

[Shaka Khan]

I hate to rain on this party but it seems this has something to do with pre-paying tax money rather than loss taken as a direct result of the earth quake or PSN.

[Himu]

wow

[MyNameIsMethodis]

PS3 is like the Dreamcast without the good games.

wow you are dumb go away again please

[naff]

So they were going to post profit until the Earthquake  :'( And the hacker stuff didn't happen till after the end of the financial year so that'll impact next quarter

[Phoenix Dark]

I hate to rain on this party but it seems this has something to do with pre-paying tax money rather than loss taken as a direct result of the earth quake or PSN.

Someone should make a GAF thread explaining why taxing corporations at high levels harms gamers

[Bocsius]

PS3 is like the Dreamcast without the good games.

So it's like the Dreamcast then.

[Himu]

[Himu]

Jet Grind Radio, Project Justice, and Capcom vs SNK

[Himu]

[naff]

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

To repost from the PSN thread, Sony lost $171 million so far from the hacking debacle.

A drop in the bucket compared to the already massive losses, sure, but this probably drained whatever profit Sony was going to make on the PS3 this year.  Not counting the unknown impact of lost hardware and software sales, PSN revenue, royalties from third party games, etc.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Don't worry, I still have faith in the Real Year of the PS3.  This stuff is just the true test.

Sony
Uncharted 3

[Shaka Khan]

I hate to rain on this party but it seems this has something to do with pre-paying tax money rather than loss taken as a direct result of the earth quake or PSN.

It's still bad news for Sony.  This isn't them pre-paying for three years now, this is them having to write off a tax credit that was granted on the assumption they would find their way out of their own asses within three years, which they haven't.  Generally speaking, a healthy company should never have to write off this credit.  This is SEGA-style.

Yeah, it's still bad news. But the surprise is that it wasn't caused by some of their recent failures, but something 3 FYs in the making! Wait, that's not a surprise.

Now I have zero knowledge in accounting and tax law, but if I'm understanding your post and other analysis correctly this is what they refer to as deferred tax assets, and we're in year 3 of consecutive losses, and something pretty bad is supposed to happen at this point! Is it the point where this stops being an accounting charge and turns into a real loss, or what?!

HELP AN UNIFORMED WARRIOR OUT!

Edit: didn't see DC's post.

[Shaka Khan]

I'm reading your link DC, it states that this is basically "net operating loss carryforwards."

Does this mean that this $3.2B was NEVER brought up or calculated in earning reports until now and it's TOTALLY separate from the $5B figure I see thrown around here? and now that we're in year three these assets have expired and the losses are real instead of something on paper?

(what's the breakdown of that 5 billion figure btw?)

Edit: why do simpletons like me even bother with parsing these numbers. All we actually care about are the headlines and potential use as ammo!

[pilonv1]

My basic understanding is that they had taxes to pay, but deferred them in the hope that they'd make enough money to cover the taxes. Now they haven't, they've got to put the tax on the books now. Am I correct?

[Great Rumbler]

My basic understanding is that they had taxes to pay, but deferred them in the hope that they'd make enough money to cover the taxes. Now they haven't, they've got to put the tax on the books now. Am I correct?

That would be more like a deferred tax liability. A deferred tax asset allows them to reduce taxable income in future years.

So, essentially, they're having to pay tax that they previously thought they would not have to pay.

[AdmiralViscen]

Lot of Sony shareholders here

[pilonv1]

My basic understanding is that they had taxes to pay, but deferred them in the hope that they'd make enough money to cover the taxes. Now they haven't, they've got to put the tax on the books now. Am I correct?

That would be more like a deferred tax liability. A deferred tax asset allows them to reduce taxable income in future years.

So, essentially, they're having to pay tax that they previously thought they would not have to pay.

Got it (not how it works, but what they were trying to do).

as if anyone would own shares in this economic climate. May as well invest in paper towels

[The Sceneman]

its just amazing how Sony has now completely squandered the success of the PS1 and PS2.

[pilonv1]

May as well invest in paper towels

like George Michael in a public toilet, it's all about having a good feel for the bottom and knowing when things are going to rise.

[maxy]

Kinda related,more evidence for incoming PS3 price cut,probably $100
I wonder if retail $199 PS3 can make money without further gimping...it should be possible,but either way $100 is a lot to lose per console(revenue)

PSP2 price announcement will be fun to watch

Looking to get a PlayStation 3 for a little cheaper than the current retail price? Earlier in the month GameStop was offering a deal to their PowerUp Rewards members that would allow them to get a PS3 for $100 off the retail price and now another retailer is offering a similar deal, but with greater rewards.

Target is currently offering a deal that is too good to pass up. All those that purchase a Blu-Ray movie will be given a $100 gift card that must be used towards a PS3. While that deal is pretty sweet in its own regards, the deal gets even better thanks to a special promotion Target is currently running this week. On top of the $100 gift card Blu-Ray promo mentioned, Target will also give a $60 gift card to those that purchase a PS3 and the two gift cards can be stacked together, thus allowing you to purchase a 160GB PS3 that normally retails for $299 for the extraordinary price of $140.

Those that have done this deal have shared some precautions:

    1: Buy the Blu-Ray movie at the registers near the front of the store as the electronic department doesn’t have the coupon printer available to them.

    2. Buy the movie first, get the $100 coupon, and then purchase your PS3.

    3. All movies should work for the promotion.

    4. The $60 promo ends on Saturday (May 28th).

This deal is only for in-store transactions. If you are in the market for a PS3 or are looking to replace an older model, now is a great time to do so.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=429706&page=5
http://www.examiner.com/video-game-in-national/sony-ps3-100-off-at-target-full-details-on-promotion

[Purple Filth]

Supposedly they have been giving away gift cards for a while now so a price drop seems to be on the table, plus they are having that COD BLOPS + DLC  PS3 Bundle as well for 299 also.

E3 gonna be fun due to the NGP price announcement  (Hopefully 250 or 300 for the wifi version)