Sony is reportedly ready to announce only its second loss in the history of the company being publically traded. The first loss by Sony was in 1995 and was due to a major write down in the value of its U.S. based motion picture studio. Many analysts are predicting that Sony may report a massive operating loss of about $1.1 billion due to sluggish sales and a strong yen.
Sony shares dropped 9 percent in trading on the news cutting $2 billion from the firm’s market value of $22 billion. Sony isn’t alone though with other Japanese electronics firms looking at losses. Toshiba saw stock prices drop over 8 percent after media in Japan reported it was headed for a major loss this year as well.
Sony previously announced that it would restructure and cut 16,000 jobs worldwide with 8,000 of that number being full-time employees. That number is roughly 4 percent of Sony’s global workforce.
Analyst Kazuhara Miura told CNN Money, “I think there’s a good chance the company will further accelerate its restructuring from what has been announced in December.” Sony has its hands in many markets with divisions ranging from Hollywood film studios to TVs and gaming systems like the PS2 and PS3. Sales of Sony’s aging PS2 remain robust with a reported 50 million of the consoles sold in North America alone.
