The Toshiba write-down for HD DVD: $1.1 billion

The company's exit from HD DVD is putting a significant drag on its bottom line, it admitted on Wednesday.

Altogether, the company will have to pay ¥45 billion ($453 million USD) in costs to exit the business. In addition, it will report a ¥65 billion ($654.2 million USD) loss in that sector, for a total cost to the company of over $1.1 billion this year alone.

The resulting financial pains would cause the company to miss earlier earnings targets for this fiscal year. Instead of a profit of ¥180 billion for the year ending March 31, it now expects to report a ¥125 billion loss. With the change, year-over-year profits would decline 9%. Last year, Toshiba reported a ¥137 billion profit overall.

But investors shouldn't blame HD DVD alone for Toshiba's woes. Other portions of its business are also being hit hard, including the flash memory chip business -- which has overall become a tough market for any company -- and its electronics business which includes digital music players.

The numbers match up rather well with earlier reports that the company would lose $1 billion overall as a result of HD DVD. It also highlights the pitfalls of being on the losing end of a format war -- something up until now Sony was very familiar with.