Shares in Sony tumbled more than 6% in early trade on Friday after the iconic Japanese company forecast its biggest-to date operating loss amid the global economic crisis.
Stock in Sony, which fell 2,56% on Thursday, lost a further 6,39% to stand at ¥1 814 in early trading.
“It’s already been a while since Sony lost its shining image but I want to ask it, ‘Are you sinking yet deeper?'” said Hideaki Higashi, strategist at SMBC Friend Securities.
Just after the closing bell on Thursday, Sony warned it expects its biggest-to-date operating loss of ¥260-billion ($2,9-billion) as the global crisis saps demand for televisions, cameras and video game consoles.
The huge loss would be Sony’s first in 14 years and a dramatic reversal from its earlier goal of a ¥200-billion profit.
Chief executive Howard Stringer said he would speed up restructuring, closing a television plant in Japan as part of efforts to save ¥250-billion a year. Last month it said it would slash 16 000 jobs and axe plants.
Higashi said he understood it was “important to stop bleeding in an emergency”.
But Sony, the inventor of Walkman, needs to come up with another innovative product such as the mega-hit music player iPod, which turned around the fortunes of the United States firm Apple, he said.
Under Stringer, a Welsh-born US citizen, Sony has shed non-core assets and slashed thousands of jobs in recent years.
The company has had a difficult few years in the face of tough competition from rivals’ products such the iPod and Nintendo’s Wii, but it had enjoyed a strong recovery last year. – AFP