Sony back at top of its game with near $7bn record profit

Apr 28, 2018 | News On Japan

Apr 28, 2018 (Nikkei) - Sony has logged its first record full-year operating profit in two decades as the electronics and media giant's shift to an online content distribution model for gaming bears fruit.

The Japanese company on Friday reported a 734.9 billion yen ($6.73 billion) profit for the year ended March 31, two and a half times the fiscal 2016 level. Net profit nearly septupled to 490.8 billion yen for the first record in 10 years.

Sales increased 12% to 8.54 trillion yen, with gains concentrated in such content businesses as video games, music and movies. The top line also benefited from a shift toward high-value-added products in television and digital camera operations. Higher sales of image sensors for smartphones lifted business in semiconductor operations.

These figures show Sony back at the top of its game, having fought its way out of a historic earnings crunch early this decade. Its challenge now is to achieve earnings on this scale on a continuous basis, Chief Financial Officer Hiroki Totoki said in a Friday news conference. The company has never managed to keep operating profit north of 500 billion yen for long, he said.

Online content distribution is now Sony's most promising earner, according to President Kenichiro Yoshida. The game and network services segment brought in a 177.5 billion yen operating profit for fiscal 2017, contributing 24% of the overall figure. The tally is seen rising 7% to 190 billion yen this fiscal year, even with sales of the PlayStation 4 console apparently having peaked.

Indeed, this division is a symbol of all that has changed at Sony over the past 20 years. When the company last logged record profit, in fiscal 1997, the segment's fortunes followed every shift in console sales. Now, its profit structure is far more resilient to a slump in that arena. Network sales, including subscriptions to the PlayStation Plus online multiplayer gaming service that run around 5,000 yen a year, topped 1 trillion yen for the first time last fiscal year. The operations "are structured so as not to be swayed by the ups and downs of the hardware business," said Yu Okazaki of Nomura Securities.

Typhoons No. 28 and 29 Bring High Waves to Japan's Pacific Coast

Two typhoons moving across the Pacific southeast of Japan are expected to remain well away from the Japanese mainland, but powerful swells could bring rough seas to a wide stretch of the country's Pacific coastline throughout the three-day holiday weekend, according to forecasts updated at 3 a.m. on October 10.

Cyberattacks Spread Across Japan

A series of cyberattacks has disrupted business operations and exposed millions of customer records across Japan, with a ransomware attack on a cloud service provider affecting 495 companies and local governments nationwide, while convenience store operator Lawson has disclosed a separate breach involving more than 2.15 million personal information records.

Japan's First 360-Degree Projection Mapping Opens in Osaka

Japan's first 360-degree projection mapping show will open at the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts on October 10, transforming the historic building into an immersive world of light, music, and seasonal imagery, with organizers hoping the attraction will also help stimulate the city's nighttime economy.

Tokyo University Professor Wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Tokyo University of Science professor emeritus Kenzo Soai has been awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with French chemist Henri B. Kagan for discoveries that transformed scientists' understanding of how chemical reactions can favor one of two mirror-image forms of a molecule.

US Military Halts All Okinawa Operations for 48 Hours

The US military suspended activities by all forces stationed in Okinawa for 48 hours from noon on October 7, an unusual measure following the arrest of a US Marine in connection with a robbery and murder case that has renewed scrutiny of crimes involving American service members.

MEDIA CHANNELS

MORE Society NEWS

Most Sightings of Fugitive Yoichi Hatta Reported in Kanto

Police in Oita Prefecture have revealed that the Kanto region accounts for the largest number of reported sightings of Yoichi Hatta, a fugitive wanted in connection with a fatal hit-and-run incident in Beppu in 2022, with authorities preparing to distribute new wanted posters nationwide from November as the search enters its fifth year.