Re: Sony to Cut 8,000 Jobs

It seems Sony may be about to announce more drastic cuts than the 8000 jobs announced earlier.

Quote: According to a new report from The Times, prompted by Sony insiders, "sacred cow-slaying" is the order of the day with whole divisions facing the chop as well as top bosses and innumerable staff, particularly at Sony's Japanese core.

We're told that "factory closures and the abolition of several major divisions" could be confirmed in February, and while it is unclear which parts of the company are at threat, speculation is mounting that major changes could impact the PlayStation-making Computer Entertainment division.

http://play.tm/news/22797/sony-consider-huge-division-cuts/

Depression wrote:
Quote:Sony, you mean the company that has this ridiculous "surplus in cash" according to some message board members is cutting jobs?!?

lol, it's amazing some of the crap that is spewed on these boards isn't it? The kicker is they act like they know it all and at the same time they use lingo as if to further prove that they know what they speak of but in the end it's nothing but BS. Always when it's something against Sony/bluray too.

Scotsman, sounds SERIOUS. If true I wonder how drastic these changes will be, especially in the Playstation division.

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[Post edited by Falcon01 on Jan 5, 2009 - CST 9:50 PM]

Quote:lol, it's amazing some of the crap that is spewed on these boards isn't it? The kicker is they act like they know it all and at the same time they use lingo as if to further prove that they know what they speak of but in the end it's nothing but BS. Always when it's something against Sony/bluray too.

You mean Skyhawk? Oops, we're not supposed to name names, right?

No doubt that they are in trouble. How much we don't know yet.

New numbers (which will be announced next week) puts the Playstation 3 last again in December when compared to the Wii and XBOX 360. Some say it will sell less than it did in 2007 as well. Not good in one of the few markets (gaming) that seems to not be that hurt by the economic downfall.

Again, I think that Sony needs to consider a price cut on the PS3 to show they mean business. Else they could get left behind in the very important game industry.

Luckily none of this will effect Blu-ray which seems to gain more and more support.

Henning you are correct. The gaming industry IS still very profitable even during these very tough economic times. The question is if the Playstation division gets major cutbacks or even folds (is this even a reality?) how will that affect Sonys plans for bluray?

"According to a new report from The Times, prompted by Sony insiders, "sacred cow-slaying" is the order of the day..."

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[Post edited by tylerdurden on Jan 6, 2009 - CST 9:39 AM]

Quote:it's amazing some of the crap that is spewed on these boards isn't it? The kicker is they act like they know it all and at the same time they use lingo as if to further prove that they know what they speak of but in the end it's nothing but BS.

When talking about cash on hand, it's necessary to use big complicated words like "balance sheet". Another really big word for you and Mr. Raynor is "financial statement". A "balance sheet" is an example of a "financial statement" that must be submitted by law to the governments to which it pays taxes, made available to all shareholders, as well as institutions that regulate stock markets. Generally these are prepared and submitted 4 times each year, every 3 months, on what is known as a "quarterly basis". Yes, I know these terms are difficult for certain demographics, but try to keep up if you can...

Sony's balance sheet for the last quarter reported can be found here on page 11:
http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/fr/08q2_sony.pdf

Now where it says "Cash and cash equivalents", you can see that they have 6,740 million American dollars. This is equal to 6.74 billion dollars in cash. This represents a 11.8% increase over the report the year before - even after the last 50% BMG acquisition.

Now, to ensure this cash isn't "leveraged" (like most American companies – example: FORD), lets look to ensure that the company itself is actually worth more than 6.74 billion - taking only what they owe (debt) and what they own (assets) into account. For that we have to go to the last line of the balance sheet. In the American dollar column we see the amount 124,735 million dollars (nearly 125 BILLION DOLLARS). This amount is the balance when we subtract all debts from everything the company has that's worth anything. This is one reason we call it a "balance sheet". Generally, if this last number is negative and/or the cash on hand isn't enough to support its daily operations and debt payments, the company either goes bankrupt or files for Chapter 11 (bankruptcy protection). This is a bad thing, unless you're an American company where the socialist government will replenish your asset side of the equation with tax payer’s money.

Sony could just “misplace” their entire game division and hardly notice it missing, considering even the wireless division’s gross sales exceed the entire game divisions by more than 10 times (5x for SNE portion). Nearly 80% of their business sales are generated through their electronics division alone (that doesn’t include wireless, gaming, insurance, etc.). And why on earth would misplacing its entire game division affect Blu-ray (a media format adopted industry wide as the standard of HD media)?

So Falcon01 and Raynor, although I’ve again dazzled and confused you with big words, you both should realize that going through life insulting people simply because you’re too lazy to use a dictionary and check facts out for yourself makes you look stupid – at least to those whose intelligence is higher than a parrot’s.

Skyhawk I never once said you confused me. Learn to read. I think it's laughable that you use jargon learned in Business 101 (i.e. high school) to try and prove your point. Then again your theories always turn out to be total bs and fanboyism to the extreme so ne need to dispute them.

EDIT: On top of the upcoming layoffs for Sony there's this news that can't be good for them either...

Samsung opens up lead on Sony in US TV market

Sure, this week's CES could net Samsung some bragging rights over Sony if rumors of a 6.5-mm thin LED-backlit LCD display come true, but that's just about corporate pride (and Sony's XEL-1 is a shipping product to boot). The real hurt comes in the form of new numbers from DisplaySearch that show Samsung widening its lead in US sales, moving up to 26.7-percent of the US market compared to Sony's 14.8-percent. Those figures are through November, and it's pretty amazing that more than one in four digital TVs sold in the US were Samsung.

http://www.engadgethd.com/2009/01/05/samsung-opens-up-lead-on-sony-in-us-tv-market/

Also there's this article in the NY Times from yesterday...

Blu-ray’s Fuzzy Future

One reason is that discs of all kinds may become obsolete as a new wave of digital media services starts to flow into the living room. On Monday, for example, the Korean television maker LG Electronics plans to announce a new line of high-definition televisions that connect directly to the Internet with no set-top box required. The televisions will be able to play movies and television shows from online video-on-demand services, including Netflix.

“The Blu-ray format is in jeopardy simply because the advent of downloadable HD movies is so close,” said Roger L. Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates. a research and consulting company. “Streaming video from the Internet and other means of direct digital delivery are going to put optical formats out of business entirely over the next few years.”

But evidence exists that many people either do not know enough about Blu-ray to buy or do not think the more expensive players and discs are worth the extra investment.

Going from the whirring VCRs of yore to a DVD player was a big leap in picture quality and convenience, while the jump from DVD to Blu-ray is subtler, at least for those who do not have the latest and largest high-definition televisions.

“Satisfaction with DVD is very high, and sales figures for the DVD, though the market is contracting, are very strong,” said Chris Fawcett, vice president for the home audio and video division of Sony Electronics, which has lowered growth projections for Blu-ray to account for the downturn in consumer spending.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/05/technology/05bluray.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss

There's pros and cons for bluray in that article but there are some very valid points. It does give one cause for concern though.

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[Post edited by Falcon01 on Jan 6, 2009 - CST 10:45 AM]

Falcon01, if you honestly still dispute that Sony had 6.74 billion dollars cash on hand as of their last reporting period, show us the correct number with as credible a reference that I gave - a link to an appropriate SEC filing would even be acceptable.

Your continued insults and childish trolling simply because I'm right (and provide direct proof) also make you look stupid. I'm sorry that I was a duel format supporter and you were an exclusive HD DVD fanboy. Blu-ray won, now get the hell over it you cry baby. I've given you and a few others here a lot of slack to overcome your grieving, and I've taken a lot of abuse from you assholes during that period and rarely said anything. But it's been nearly a year and HD DVD is not coming back.


Toshiba, SanDisk to cut NAND flash output by 30 pct

OMG NO!!!! How will this effect the return of HD DVD if Toshiba goes under?
http://news.aol.ca/article/toshiba-sandisk-to-cut-nand-flash-output-by-30-pct/457731/
Quote:"Slumping demand and excess capacity have caused semiconductor prices to plunge, pushing makers of PC-use DRAM chips in particular to seek help, and sending Toshiba's chip business into the red in the first half of the business year."

See I could do the above 5 times a day too. The only difference is that people who post negative articles about HD DVD, Toshiba, or anything else this "website" supports results in ban.

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[Post edited by Skyhawk on Jan 6, 2009 - CST 10:49 AM]