Sony Predicts USD2.15 Billion Loss
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Jumat, 19 Oktober 2018 19:12 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Sony has announced it would not make a dividend payment for the first time in history due to the slumping of its share.
Sony predicted a $2.15 billion loss this year on Wednesday, which is a wider loss than previously forecasted, due to a writedown on the value of its mobile communications business.
Sony also announced that it would cancel its interim and full-year dividends for the current fiscal year, which ends in March.
This marks the first time since the company went public in 1958 that it will not make a dividend payment to shareholders.
The stock slumped more than 6 percent in the early Wednesday trading in the U.S.
Increasingly tough competition in the mobile phone market makes Sony continue to lose sales and profit targets.
About 1,000 staff, or seven percent of the workforce, will be cut from the mobile communications operations.
In July, the entertainment and electronics company had forecast a $500 million loss.
Sony had been predicting operating income of $1.31 billion, but has revised that to a deficit of $373 million.
"I'd like to express my deep regret to shareholders, and as president, I take this very seriously," said Sony president and CEO Kazuo Hirai at a hastily-arranged press conference at Sony's headquarters in Tokyo.
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