scottie on 22 January 2009
From the site http://financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Operating+Income
Operating income, representing income from ordinary business activities, excludes expenses, such as interest and taxes.
Which implies to me that Sony lost 1.7 billion from the gap between sales revenue and the sum costs of manufacture, employing workers, advertising etc. They also had to pay the sum of 1.2 billion dollars on taxes, and to cover the interest raised on the company's debt
