For its first quarter ended June 30, 2005, Sony Corporation reports a net loss of 7.3 billion yen ($65.2 million), compared to a profit of 23.3 billion yen in the same period last year. The company saw sales of 1.56 trillion yen ($13.9 billion), a 3.3% drop from last year’s 1.61 trillion yen.
Sony’s game division, the picture’s a bit more cheerful. That division saw sales of 172.8 billion yen ($1.54 billion), a 64% increase from last year. However, the group also saw a 5.9 billion yen ($52.7 million) operating loss attributed to marketing and research compared to last year’s 2.9 billion yen.
Brisk hardware performance explains the game division’s bustling sales numbers. The PlayStation Portable, Sony’s spunky newcomer, sold 2.09 million units worldwide, while the PlayStation 2 sold 3.53 million units nearly five times as many as last year.
Foreigner Howard Stringer stepped in as chairman of Sony in March. Stringer has said he plans major cost cuts at the company, which faces increasing competition from the likes Samsung and Apple. Stringer plans to unveil a turnaround plan in September.
