3 ms·

Sony's Net Profit Drops 95% Q4 2008

15 points by frisco 18y ago

gravitycop 18y ago
Already posted (cnn link): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=456303 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=456303
callmeed 18y ago
Wait, 95%? ... as in, making $100 profit one quarter and then $5 a year later? How is that possible? I can accept the economic slowdown being a contributor–but not to the tune of 95%.
- gecko 18y ago
  Profit is down 95%, not net revenue. If they made $1,000,000,001 in revenue on $1,000,000,000 in expenses last year, and had identical expenses but made 95¢ less this year, then their profits would be down 95%. It's not uncommon, and does not necessarily mean that the economy's crashed--though it does always indicate corporate incompetence.
- nandemo 18y ago
  What is so surprising about that? Some companies make a profit in one year and have a loss in the next; more than 100% decrease.
mikeryan 18y ago
PROFIT != REVENUE. It's not uncommon for profits to see significant fluctuation. Especially in this market.
- frisco 18y ago
  I mean, yeah sure, it's like this other reply below: > Profit is down 95%, not net revenue. If they made $1,000,000,001 in revenue on $1,000,000,000 in expenses last year, and had identical expenses but made 95¢ less this year, then their profits would be down 95%. The absolute numbers are still striking: profit last year was $2.2 billion, dropping to $115 million. That's huge, not $1.
  - mikeryan 18y ago
    It is but there can be so many factors that go into something like that. Because of the economy many companies (And I can't say Sony has done this) are writing down some huge acquisition and infrastructure costs this year while expectations are low which can artificially affect this number.
lst 18y ago
Yeah, please wake up everybody. (The generic and superficial american optimism doesn't help here and now, and is actually part of the problem.) We had the year 1929. Sure, quite none of us lived it, but we don't seem to have learned the lesson, we did even worse with our new and sophisticated economic systems...

15 points by frisco 18y ago

Already posted (cnn link): http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=456303 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=456303

Wait, 95%? ... as in, making $100 profit one quarter and then $5 a year later? How is that possible? I can accept the economic slowdown being a contributor–but not to the tune of 95%.

gecko 18y ago
Profit is down 95%, not net revenue. If they made $1,000,000,001 in revenue on $1,000,000,000 in expenses last year, and had identical expenses but made 95¢ less this year, then their profits would be down 95%. It's not uncommon, and does not necessarily mean that the economy's crashed--though it does always indicate corporate incompetence.
nandemo 18y ago
What is so surprising about that? Some companies make a profit in one year and have a loss in the next; more than 100% decrease.

mikeryan 18y ago

PROFIT != REVENUE. It's not uncommon for profits to see significant fluctuation. Especially in this market.

frisco 18y ago
I mean, yeah sure, it's like this other reply below: > Profit is down 95%, not net revenue. If they made $1,000,000,001 in revenue on $1,000,000,000 in expenses last year, and had identical expenses but made 95¢ less this year, then their profits would be down 95%. The absolute numbers are still striking: profit last year was $2.2 billion, dropping to $115 million. That's huge, not $1.
- mikeryan 18y ago
  It is but there can be so many factors that go into something like that. Because of the economy many companies (And I can't say Sony has done this) are writing down some huge acquisition and infrastructure costs this year while expectations are low which can artificially affect this number.

lst 18y ago

Yeah, please wake up everybody. (The generic and superficial american optimism doesn't help here and now, and is actually part of the problem.) We had the year 1929. Sure, quite none of us lived it, but we don't seem to have learned the lesson, we did even worse with our new and sophisticated economic systems...