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Sony projected it would report its first annual net loss in 14 years Thursday, and Chief Executive Howard Stringer vowed to turn around the company with pay cuts, job reductions and trendier gadgets. “The massive economic upheaval being experienced across the globe is sparing no one in the consumer electronics world,” Stringer said at a hastily called news conference.
eBay’s fourth-quarter earnings fell 31 percent, indicating that its Internet auctions and “Buy It Now” offerings are being hurt by the recession just like traditional retail sales. The results, combined with a forecast below analysts’ expectations, sent eBay shares skidding more than 6 percent in after-hours trading.
IBM’s stock surged more than 9 percent to $89.61 per share on Wednesday after Big Blue beat Wall Street expectations with its fourth-quarter financial results and predicted it would maintain high profit levels all the way through 2009. IBM reported $4.4 billion in earnings during the fourth quarter, up 12 percent compared to $4 billion in earnings during the same period in 2007.
Sony Ericsson is the latest casualty of the global economic slowdown. The joint venture between Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony and Swedish mobile phone maker Ericsson announced dismal fourth-quarter financial results on Friday. The company lost about $248 million on roughly $3.9 billion in sales in the fourth quarter.
Samsung Electronics announced a major restructuring Friday, consolidating business operations into two divisions as South Korea’s most powerful and iconic corporation deals with the slowing global economy and expectations of looming red ink. The new organization was included in an announcement of personnel changes at the company as well as at the broader Samsung Group of which it serves as flagship.
Intel appears to be playing it safe with an ugly first-quarter forecast. The chipmaker reported Thursday that profit plunged 90 percent and sales slipped 23 percent during the last three months of the year, matching analysts’ subdued estimates. Wall Street was braced for the bad news: Intel had lowered its fourth-quarter guidance twice, including once just last week.
Mobile handset maker Motorola said Wednesday it will cut 4,000 more jobs in 2009, in addition to 3,000 it announced in October. The company said the move will save about $700 million a year starting in 2009, and total $1.5 billion in annual savings when combined with the previous cut.
Telecommunications equipment maker Nortel Networks filed for bankruptcy protection in Canada and the U.S. on Wednesday, becoming the first major technology company to take that step in this global downturn. Facing a sharp drop in orders from phone companies, Nortel filed for court protection a day before it was due to make a debt payment of $107 million.
Two giants of Japan’s consumer electronics industry are expected to announce annual losses for the first time in many years. Sony, maker of the industry-changing Walkman music player and the PlayStation series of video game consoles, is expected to announce a $1.1 billion loss for the 2009 fiscal year that ends March 31.
Indian IT services provider Infosys Technologies on Tuesday reported a more than 6 percent increase in fiscal third-quarter profit and said it is seeing no fallout from the Satyam debacle, but warned that the pricing environment is challenging and trimmed its outlook for the full year.
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