Sony's Earnings Hit By Battery, Gaming Woes

The third quarter of fiscal year 2006 was a rough one for Sony, just as the company had warned. Overall, Sony saw earnings of ¥159.9 billion ($1.31 billion) on revenues of ¥2.607.7 trillion ($21 billion). Although revenues were up over the same quarter last year (¥2.375 trillion), net income declined 5.3 percent from last year's ¥168.9 billion ($1.39 billion) figure.

Sony laid the blame for the earnings shortfall primarily at the feet of Sony Computer Entertainment, the division responsible for consoles. SCE posted a ¥54.2 billion loss ($443 million) due to the costs associated with manufacturing and launching the PlayStation 3 along with lower sales of the PSP and price cuts on the PS2. Last year, SCE saw a ¥67.8 billion profit ($556 million).