Sony Ericsson has just posted their results for the quarter and full year (their fiscal year runs differently than Sony's):

http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/library/semc/pdf/q408.pdf

Q4 results:

Revenue 2.9 billion €
Operating income: -262 million € (a 9% loss margin)

Shipped phones: 24.2m (30.8m in Q4 2007 )

Full year results:

Revenue: 11.2 billion €
Operating income: -113 million € (a 1% loss margin)

Shipped phones: 96.6m (103.4m in 2007)

was expecting worse from Sony Eric.

Not that bad at all.

The Q4 result is pretty bad, but the full year is not too bad I guess...

@NJ5: About the keiretsu system; Japan has had a different take in building their economy. Japan has based its economy for everyone to have a steady job, which is the idea behind the keiretsu. Japan has even had laws that forbid companies to fire people (and this is where keiretsu becomes important). Propaby because of keiretsu, in Japan 30% ownership of another company is enough to be counted as being a part of the company (as opposed to 50% elsewhere). You're propably not familiar with keiretsu because a) Japanese stockmarket isn't considered as interesting here, as the big western ones b) people don't understand the system c) we don't have excact word to describe keiretsu.
Slorg net seems to know this better, so maybe he wants to add or correct something.

@Slorg: Bailing out strategically important companies start, when government ownership ends.
Usually USA haven't had the need to bail out its companies due to large domestic market and there being someone bigger to buy out the company that's going under. Now it's the big ones going down.

"Bitter life makes twisted mind" How true.

I had a feeling that the only hope for Sony to survive is a CARD.

And THE CARD may lead the company to a very successful future.

You are aware that this increase the chances of cuts at SCE, right? 

You know what happens to companies that get bailed out by governments (aka tax money), do you? I can guarantee you that being controlled by enraged shareholders is still 100x better than by a goverment ensuring re-election.

Sony certainly won't fall, but for Sony it would obviously be very bad if they were to come in a position where they have to ask for state-support. If they're smart they won't lt come that far and make the right decisions.

More importantly, Sony Ericsson's results show us the likely impact the Electronics division will suffer. Both Sony Ericsson and that division focus on high-end consumer electronics, and both are suffering from decreased demand, decreased inventory in the retail channel and increased competition. It's also interesting that Sony Ericsson predicts the first half of 2009 will be worse than Q4 08.

EDIT - Another interesting thing is the size of the yearly cost reduction they're implementing. It's greater than the operating loss they suffered in the holiday quarter. If Sony follows a similar trend, the next announced restructuring will probably be bigger than the one which was already announced.

I read every last post and continue to be amazed at the vision of PS3 followers. It's just a sight to watch. In light of Forbes reporting, which along with the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg form the best and most reliable financial news in the world, and bots just overlook it, call it media bashing and recite the tired PS3 talking point. My heavens.

From now on, keep this mentality - continue not to believe Sony is in trouble. Keep believing Sony is doing great, that it will continue to outsell the 360 and Wii, and that everyone will see the light and graduate to the PS3. Don't sweat those pesky shareholders who have been waiting for 8 years to get paid - and for the love of God are still hanging on. Don't worry about the financial markets that are saying Sony is going to its worst loss in over 50 years.

Yeah, we all have it wrong. Yepp.

OT: To others who are grounded in reality - this is far worse that I expected. I did not realize they had lied 7 out of 8 times. That makes me wonder if the shareholders are locked into a deal with Sony where they have to stay with them for a certain amount of years. I remember when the financial crisis was starting, and I watched my 401K slide start, I just pulled it out and dealt with the aftermath.

Now, with the market a mess, I can only imagine how much farther Sony will fall before they rebound.

1. Yes, but still while this increases the chances I was expecting double the amount lost so figure thats half the amount of cuts expected.

2. Yes, gov controlled companies even for a short period suck but I;m meaning worse case bases the Jap Gov will bail them out if Sony ends up at that point of crumbling.