News

Sony shares suffer worst price drop in 31 years
Posted: 13.05.2012 07:34 by JonahFalcon Comments: 19
After console manufacturer Sony reported a £3.5bn loss for the past year, the company's share price dropped to a 31 year low, falling 6.7% to £8.79.

According to Fukoku Capital Management president Yuuki Sakurai, "Sony is facing a lot of difficulties and the new president has not been able to produce a clear plan as to how he will turn around the company. Even the little that investors have heard, they are not very impressed with."

Back in early April, Sony had announced it would cut over 10,000 jobs.

Sony has been hurt most by its electronics business. The television division for example, has registered losses for eight years in a row, while its mobile phone business has been suffering. Analysts have also noted that the company "lost ground" to its rivals in the videogame industry as well.

Analyst also state that part of Sony's issues have sprung from a lack of innovation and product development. The rising costs in Japan have not helped the corporation either.
Source: BBC

Comments

By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on May 13, 2012
SirRoderick
Well, that's gotta hurt :/
By SiyaenSokol (SI Elite) on May 13, 2012
SiyaenSokol
Damn... what a drop.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on May 13, 2012
nocutius
Not good, I hope they rebound in the next few years.
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on May 13, 2012
SirRoderick
Another avatar change? Well that's just jolly, soon I'll not be able to tell you people apart anymore!
By Chosen_One (SI Elite) on May 13, 2012
Chosen_One
bye bye Sony, it was fun :) I hope U'll not survive, cuz Sega suffered because of you in 2000.
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on May 13, 2012
SirRoderick
That's just petty Chose :/

I for one have fond memories of the playstation.
By Chosen_One (SI Elite) on May 13, 2012
Chosen_One
Sega Genesis, (I wanted Sega Saturn, was unable to find in our country), Dreamcast. and then Xbox 360. I did ignore ps. And of course I am core PC gamer since 2003.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on May 13, 2012
nocutius
@SirRoderick

It's still Osaka, now with means to protects herself from all the creeps that moved in recently :)

The pic is from this short clip, so the rest of you can understand the awesomeness that is Osaka.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37mPoKQijj8
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on May 13, 2012
SirRoderick
Isn't Osaka a place?
By nocutius (SI Elite) on May 13, 2012
nocutius
Yes it is.

She moved to Tokyo from there, and everyone just ended calling her Osaka. Imaginative naming sense :).
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on May 13, 2012
SirRoderick
A good, I thought I'd gone insane for a second. I pride myself on geography :P
By leowaud (SI Newbie) on May 13, 2012
leowaud
Sounds like investors are betting against the vita...
By Chosen_One (SI Elite) on May 13, 2012
Chosen_One
Fall of Japanese Empire (aka Sony). They thought that they can survive in this market with their high prices for everything, every piece of hardware they produce have a higher price by x1.2-1.5 while their competitors have equal quality at fair price. That is the reason why they are loosing positions at TV's, audio systems and such, intelligent man just do not want to pay for brand such a high price. Samsung beat em in every direction, Sony needs to worship their gods, and be happy that Samsung didn't start their own console production, cuz that'll be a final bullet in Sony's head.
By leowaud (SI Newbie) on May 13, 2012
leowaud
Yes def right abt the pricing- just cant get away with the sony mark up like they used to, a firm like samsung has got the reputation and the price.
By anonymouswolfm (SI Newbie) on May 14, 2012
anonymouswolfm
I rather trust the Japanese than the Koreans...
By SirRoderick (SI Elite) on May 14, 2012
SirRoderick
What the hell is wrong with the Koreans?
By nocutius (SI Elite) on May 14, 2012
nocutius
@anonymouswolfm

Korea is slowly catching up to Japan and that attitude is not quite appropriate. Korea is one of the most developed countries in the world, nr. 15 in GDP.

From wiki
"The economy is export-driven, with production focusing on electronics, automobiles, ships, machinery, petrochemicals and robotics."
This basically sounds like Japan :)

Unless you have a different Korea in mind :)

And this comes from a fan of everything Japanese.
By JonahFalcon (SI Elite) on May 14, 2012
JonahFalcon
Korea also knows how to make games Westerners love. Which makes sense since some of their favorite games are developed by Westerners.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on May 15, 2012
herodotus
Sony has historically been the "catch-up" company after Sega and Nintendo since he earliest days of consoles, but it was the innovation and ergonomic design that brought them to the forefront, particularly where handhelds were concerned. Innovations such as full colour, PC-quality visuals on a hand-held and the incredible success of the Playstation sealed it's place as leader of the pack as he others languished or attempted innovation that just wasn't quite there with the rest of the marketplace.
Length of development for the PS4 and it's delay in releasing with it's major rival the XBox 360 I believe was the beginning of the present problems Sony face, however last year was a disaster was a laundry list of disasters thrown on top. That and the Vita just has not accrued the interest that Sony had hoped for.
As for South Korea, Samsung alone is worth three times the GDP of North Korea and the country's gaming Devs have a much stronger interest in working with and within Western gaming ideas than the still very ethnically focused and specific JRPG.