Sony handset division to blame for $1.25 billion quarterly loss, new mobile chief appointed

[Shawn Knight]

Sony on Friday posted a quarterly net loss of $1.25 billion on revenue of $17.4 billion for the fiscal second quarter ending September 20. Overall, revenue was up compared to the year-ago quarter thanks in part to an 83 percent sales increase from Sony’s Game and Network Services division (translation: the PlayStation 4 is thriving) but it was the mobile division that brought the entire company down.

Revenue from the mobile unit was up 1.2 percent to $2.8 billion but a $1.58 billion impairment charge wiped away what could have otherwise been a very solid quarter.

Sony also revised its current fiscal year smartphone shipment forecast to 41 million units, down from an estimated 43 million in July. Originally, Sony projected smartphone shipments of 50 million in April.

For those curious about the gaming division, Sony says it sold 3.3 million PlayStation 4 consoles during the most recent quarter. In comparison, Microsoft moved 2.4 million Xbox Ones and Xbox 360s according to its latest results.

Perhaps as a direct result of the poor performance, Sony Mobile president and CEO Kunimasa Suzuki has been replaced by Hiroki Totoki. Up to this point, Totoki was a senior vice president in charge of corporate planning.

Suzuki, who took over the helm of the mobile division in April 2012, will start a new role with Sony – executive vice president of Sony Entertainment – on November 16.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/58656-sony-handset-division-blame-125-billion-quarterly-loss.html

 

[wastedkill]

2.4million xbox ones & xbox 360's wow is it me or is that a fancy way of trying to make it look like your own consoles are doing a colossal flop?

Its like microsoft saying "We sold 20million PC's with windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, vista, XP" whats next sony gonna come out with "We sold 20million PS4, PS3, PS2, PS1's" but hey atleast with sony we know which is getting the most sales PS4! but with microsoft the xbox 360 is probably selling more then the xbox one from what they posted...

 

[Rippleman]

I am not in high finance, but it blows my mind that a company can't make money with $17.4 billion in a quarter let alone LOSE 1.25 billion. I would assume they are doing something wrong, very VERY wrong.

 

[Guest]

The SONY phones are just too expensive. They need to follow the same format they used for their NEX aka Alpha mirroless camera system, for their mobile division. Those cameras are great and are at the best price point. In my country in the Caribbean it used to be Blackberry that was king.... now it's going the way of Samsung. They (Samsung) even have a store here now.

 

[davislane1]

I am not in high finance, but it blows my mind that a company can't make money with $17.4 billion in a quarter let alone LOSE 1.25 billion. I would assume they are doing something wrong, very VERY wrong.

It's actually fairly easy to bring in tons of revenue only to lose out, net. It's hard to say without looking at their statements, but a number of simple errors such as failing to properly identify things in the supply chain (materials or manufacturing costs, for instance) or not being able to push enough sales volume due to faulty market analysis or ineffective marketing could be the culprit.

Rule 1 of Business: You must spend money to make money.
Rule 2 of Business: It is easy to lose money.
Rule 3 of Business: It is difficult to make money.

 

[Rippleman]

It's actually fairly easy to bring in tons of revenue only to lose out, net. It's hard to say without looking at their statements, but a number of simple errors such as failing to properly identify things in the supply chain (materials or manufacturing costs, for instance) or not being able to push enough sales volume due to faulty market analysis or ineffective marketing could be the culprit.

Rule 1 of Business: You must spend money to make money.
Rule 2 of Business: It is easy to lose money.
Rule 3 of Business: It is difficult to make money.

I think the old rule of "you gotta have money to make money" should now be readjusted to "you gotta have money to lose money"

 

[captaincranky]

Sony used to be able to get over with extra pricey product, the way Apple does today. Sony was recognized as a "premium" brand. Their "Trinitron" marque TVs were best sellers, at maybe 10% to 20% above prevailing market. I guess times have changed.

Their digital camera product used to have proprietary memory cards, called "Sony Memory Stick". A salient reason to avoid Sony cameras as if they were carrying the plague. The last time I was in Best Buy, the staff were selling away from them aggressively.

 

[indiangamer]

Something is very wrong internally. Because their phones are almost same as competition specification wise.
I think it is their marketing. Here in India alot of people don't even know about the existence of Xperia Z2. I haven't seen any tv ads for Z3 yet. And with bad marketing they might be predicting sales figures very high.

 

[Frank Barnett]

Who cares every week there is a new top of the line smart phone. All these *****s just keep cranking them out. A good phone should be able to be bought outright for $200.0 if they cant make money doing that then they should get out of the business anyways.

 

[Rippleman]

Who cares every week there is a new top of the line smart phone. All these *****s just keep cranking them out. A good phone should be able to be bought outright for $200.0 if they cant make money doing that then they should get out of the business anyways.

Sounds like you have a business plan that will rip up the industry. Why not try?