Sony’s 2008 Loss? A Cool One Billion Dollars

Sony announced its first annual loss in 14 years for 2008, but it's a doozie - $1 billion.

Yesterday Sony announced its financials for the year ending in March, and for the first time in 14 years, it made a loss. But what a loss! It’s a round $1 billion.

That’s bad enough, but the company has said it expects to lose even more in the coming year.

Sony blamed reduced demand for electronics goods and a strong yen for sales slumping by 12.9%. The losses were $1.05 billion, which was actually less than initially forecast, thanks to a change in Japanese tax laws and no real decline in TV prices. Sales were down in every area, with only the Bravia LCD TVs showing an increase.

Sony had already announced a major cost-cutting operation, and yesterday said it would be closing three more plants in Japan.