25 things you didn't know about Sony's earnings report

As Facebook groans under a blizzard of forwards for the latest "25 Things You Didn't Know About Me" meme, a savvy observer suspects that we're all doing that project to keep our minds off the economy.

And based on photo evidence and the hideous 94.8% drop in net income, no one today needs a little mental break more than Sony. And so...

1. The last time Sony reported an overall quarterly operating loss was in 1995, after a quarter of box-office flops and bad business practices.

2. Among the upcoming movies that use Sony's 3D "D-Cinema" tech: Coraline, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, Avatar (James Cameron's new epic), Escape from Planet Earth, and a new version of A Christmas Carol (Jim Carrey as Scrooge!).

3. The company cited poor performance by Sony Ericsson, its joint mobile-phone venture, as a significant factor in the numbers. Poor results with that and other "equity affiliates" accounts for ¥57.7 billion ($641 million) in losses.

4. Electronics sales usually account for more than half of Sony's revenues -- Walkmen, TVs, GPSs, and so on.

5. Sony showed a fresh take on the Walkman, one of the company's venerable flagship products at CES. It's essentially just a pair of headphones, with the music storage built into the earpieces. (No wires dangling, in other words.) It's not yet available, but the demo we saw at the show indicates a lot of appeal for gym and other active uses.

6. ¥15.9 billion ($176 million) of Sony's Q3 operating-income loss of 18 billion yen, or $197 million, is ascribable to the Electronics division.

7. That operating loss is down from a ¥254.2 billion ($2.84 billion USD) profit in Q3 2007. Q3 revenue for the company was ¥2.15 trillion, or around $23.7 billion USD. Net EPS was 11 cents.

8. Sony pins much of the horror to a yen that's simply too strong right now -- worth on average ¥95.3 against the dollar and ¥125.2 against the euro, or 17.7% and 29.6% higher year-over-year respectively. If you look at the numbers strictly in local-currency terms, sales overall declined about 9% year-over-year.

9. If the yen hadn't been so strong, the Pictures division might have done fairly well. The Q3 numbers would admittedly have been competing year-over-year with the DVD release of Spider-Man 3 in Q3 2007, yes, but Quantum of Solace did great box-office and would have partially offset the Webbed One. As it is, year-over-year numbers for Pictures declined 21.8%, but the division register in the black on operating income -- ¥12.9 billion, or $133 million.

10. The DVD releases for Hancock and Step Brothers were notable successes for Sony Pictures. Go cry, critics.

11. The videogames division made money -- ¥389 million ($4.32 million USD) -- but that's down 97% year-over-year.

12. Among the 222 institutions currently holding shares in Sony, Dodge & Cox, a San Francisco-based investment firm, is believed to be the most invested. As of the end of Q2, the company's assorted Sony-holding funds accounted for at least 99,741,754 shares, or just shy of 11%.

13. As of the end of Q2, insider and "5% owners" at Sony held about 7% of the stock.

14. The Games, Pictures and "Other" divisions reported positive quarterly net operating income. "Other" includes such items as music. Electronics and Financial Services reported quarterly losses.

15. Bestselling "Other" for the quarter included Black Ice (AC/DC), Circus (Britney Spears), and I Am... Sasha Fierce (Beyonce).

16. Bestselling "Other" in Q3 for Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) included Voice (Mike Nakashima), My Short Stories (Yui), and My Song Your Song (ikimono-gakari).

17. President Barack Obama told Beyonce that he really likes "Single Ladies," the more-or-less-inescapable single from her album, and that he has done at least part of the dance for his kids. "Put a ring on it" indeed...

18. For the first three quarters of FY 2008, Electronics, Pictures and "Other" report net income, while Games and Financial Services report losses. Games, however, is actually in better shape year-over-over on that front, losing only ¥33.658 million on that front ($374,000 USD) rather than the ¥112.97 million ($1.26 million USD) it lost over the same period in 2007.

19. Sales of the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2 hardware and software are declining, the company noted on Thursday.

20. Sony also announced on Thursday that they're delaying a joint venture with Sharp that would produce and sell liquid-crystal display panels. Setup for that should begin in Q1 2010.

21. In Q3, the company saw "significant" declines in sales of CyberShot digicams, HandyCam videocams, and Vaio PCs. Operating income was down for CyberShot, Vaio, and the Bravia LCD TV line.

22. For FY 2009, which begins for Sony in March, the company forecasts year-over-year sales gains for Walkman MP3 players, Bravia TVs, Vaio, and DVD players. It foresees declines in sales for HandyCams, CyberShots, and DVD recorders.

23. Unit sales increased for Blu-ray.

24. For FY 2008, the company expects to report a net operating income loss of ¥150 billion, or $167 million USD.

25. Sony shares closed at 20.27 Thursday afternoon, down 66 cents or 3.15%. The stock price regained a bit of ground in after-hours trading.

As per the Facebook tradition, Sony should now forward its list to 25 friends who will replace the list with lists of their own. Hello Toshiba, Koninklijke, Nintendo...?

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