Sony to post $3.2 billion annual loss on tax write-offs

Tuesday,24 May 2011

Source : Reuters  man walks past an advertisement for Sony Walkmans at an electronic shop in Tokyo May 5, 2011. Sony Corporation said it expected to post a 3.2 billion US dollars net loss for the year that ended on March 31 due to a write off on tax credits, the latest in a string of grim headlines for the consumer electronics giant. (Reuters) TOKYO: Sony Corporation said it expected to post a 3.2 billion US dollars net loss for the year that ended on March 31 due to a write off on tax credits, the latest in a string of grim headlines for the consumer electronics giant. The maker of PlayStation video games, Vaio computers and Bravia TVs has been battling to recover from the devastating Japan earthquake in March, and more recently, a series of computing hacking attacks that affected more than 100 million user accounts. "I have been skeptical about Sony for a long time. Sony has been overtaken by Apple and other companies," said Yuuki Sakurai, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and president of Fukoku Capital Management in Tokyo. "The management is not able to show shareholders the future of the company." Sony said it now expected a net loss of 260 billion Japanese yen ($3.2 billion) versus a previous forecast for a profit of 70 billion yen due to a "non-cash charge" of around 360 billion yen related to Japanese tax credits. It is due to announce its full-year earnings on Thursday. The net loss would be Sony's biggest since 1995 and its second-largest ever.