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Sony expects $489M loss this year, as financial woes continue

The Japanese tech giant says it will spend money restructuring, bowing out of some businesses.

Luke Westaway Senior editor
Luke Westaway is a senior editor at CNET and writer/ presenter of Adventures in Tech, a thrilling gadget show produced in our London office. Luke's focus is on keeping you in the loop with a mix of video, features, expert opinion and analysis.
Luke Westaway

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Sony's financial troubles are unlikely to abate any time soon. Andrew Hoyle/CNET

Sony doesn't expect to make any money this year, the Japanese tech giant has warned, saying it will spend this year making major changes to its business.

The PlayStation-maker, which is one of the biggest tech companies in the world, has seen its fortunes eroded in recent years by competitors such as Samsung and Apple, and now expects to post of a loss of 50 billion yen (roughly $489.5M) in the current fiscal year, Reuters reports.

"We'll make this a year of biting the bullet on restructuring," Sony's CFO Kenichiro Yoshida is quoted as saying. "In previous years the restructuring was mostly within business units and in manufacturing," Yoshida reportedly said. This time the difference is that we are quitting businesses entirely."

Earlier this year the Walkman creator dropped out of the PC market, agreeing to sell its Vaio business to an investment fund.

Sony warned of an income drop for the last fiscal year (which ended on 31 March) several weeks ago, blaming shrinking demand for disc-based media, and unexpected costs associated with its withdrawal from the PC business.

A recent report suggested Sony would stop production of commercial OLED TVs, to focus on 4K panels.

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