Major consumer electronics company Sony turned in a loss of 98.9 billion yen (~$1 billion) for its 2008 financial year, and said it would shut down three factories in Japan.
But the worst is yet to come, because the firm said it would make an even bigger loss in its current financial year – amounting to 120 billion yen.
It is the first net loss Sony has turned in 14 years, and the reason for the loss is due to slumping sales for consumer electronics goods, as well as the strong position of the Japanese yen against other currencies.
In the last quarter of the 2008-2009 financial year, Sony turned in a big loss of 165 billion yen – compared to a profit in the same period of 2007 of 29 billion yen.
The news will cast doubt on the position of Howard Stringer. The Welshman, earlier this year, consolidated his powerbase at Sony but is still to deliver a strategy for turning around Sony.
As well as shutting the factory, Sony is also in the middle of laying off 16,000 workers.
In the midst of the Sony gloom, a bright spot was its TV business which did better than expected.
