Hmmm

The comments about all companies suffering in the current climate is valid

However Sony are in a uniquely precarious position.

Home electronics TV's et al are big purchases that are nearly always shunned during a recession.

The PS3 should be a good bet given that Gaming is historically only slightly affected by economic downturns.

This having been said Sony has put a big ticket price on its console and its nearest competitor (MS) has a bank balance that most companies can only dream of.

They should be able to make money from PS3 by holding their nerve not dropping the price and riding out the storm.

Optimistic economists believe Worldwide recovery can be seen in early 2010 but even they concede this will be a tipping point, the dawn of a new day if you will.

Full recovery and positive growth, which will in turn bring about consumer confidence in time, is placed at late 2011.

Sony will need to survive till then and beyond before they can breathe easy.

For comparison the last UK recession was in 1990 it officially lasted 24 months. Full consumer confidence didnt return until 1994.

This recession is far more reaching and severe. It has already lasted 13 months and counting, and many expect it to be the worst recession in recent times.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recessions_in_the_United_Kingdom

Groucho, are you in denial or something?  This isn't speculation, it's leaked information.  It's also backed up by financial reports from Credit Suisse.

What exactly are you insinuating?  Do you believe the Nikkei information to be wrong and Sony will report their originally projected profits?

Good read, very insightful to be honest, I know a few of Sony's divisions are going to be axed as well as factory workers let go and management restructured cause not meeting what they forecast 7 out of 8 times is not good business... I highly doubt Sony will axe PS3 and think they'll just downsize some jobs and maybe a couple of studios like the sports studios. Which if a major studio gets axed it won't be a big deal it would only mean the guys would make their own studio that will most likely have PS3 games cause they know how to work with it and maybe some new IPs for the other consoles which would be nice.

All around I think it's bad news for Sony and it's employee's but not the end of the world, maybe Sony can get some reform going and earn some of my personal respect back if nothing else.

@Groucho

You realize not a single thing you've posted related to this article made sense right? It's freaking Forbes, like the number one business magazine and with high credibility and not out to drive Sony into the ground, they post what they see (the facts) and use that information to inform it's readers to make smart business choices... It's not like Forbes is a game magazine ran by 360 fanboys out for Sony's blood, these guys make a living off being right and actually accurate cause their readers are typically intelligent upper and middle class businessmen, if you have a bad track record they won't keep buying into your publication... and no readers mean they go bye bye...

The difference between Sony's losses and Microsoft losses boils down to the fact that Sony is losing money as a whole, where as microsoft STILL profited even when the original XBox lost billions. Go look up past MS financial reports.

It was a little harsh in it's wording i think.

Nothing like... wrong with the article facts wise though.

The Nikkei is like... never wrong with stuff like this as far as i know... right?

i still say its that thread title that really throws people

Not to my knowledge they haven't. 

Further still, it's not like this is a guess from them.  They're reporting the numbers as they are.

they have about 12 billion in the bank, 6 billion in debt prior to this. and if they eat up 5 billion in losses next year ... well that 7.7 billion more... and loans rates are not so good right now .... 

I wonder if the United Arab Emirates are happy with their investment?

http://www.mcvuk.com/news/28974/UAE-government-buys-into-Sony