It's quarterly earnings time, so get ready for a bunch of big numbers in foreign denominations. Sony's net quarterly income rocketed to ¥73.7 billion ($645 million) on revenues of ¥2.08 trillion ($18.2 billion), over 40 times higher than last year's same quarter net income of ¥1.7 billion ($14.9 million). Sony's game division is bad news all around: It ate ¥96.7 billion—its seventh consecutive quarterly loss and double last year's, which Sony hopes to turn around to just "breaking even" by the second fiscal half. To top it off, CFO Nobuyuki Oneda says Sony might miss the 11 million sold mark for the PS3 during this fiscal year.
Bravia didn't touch the black either (-¥21 billion), due to falling LCD prices. The real boost to the bottom line compared with last year's quarter is that this year Sony's not swallowing a ¥51.2 billion loss from its infamous battery recall, as well as a ¥30.3 billion bonus from a weak yen, though Cybershot and Handycam sales helped push the consumer electronics division to profits of ¥106.9 billion. Overall, not a pretty picture for Sony when two of its marquee brands are bleeding cash, even more profusely so than in past quarters. [IHT, CNN Money]