RSSSony Recalls Batteries, Hints at Financial Trouble
By Ed Oswald | Published October 17, 2006, 1:18 PM
Sony joined its own battery recall on Tuesday, saying it would call back 90,000 of its batteries in its own laptops shipped to Japan and China. The number of batteries in other markets is not immediately clear, although it has been speculated the recall could reach 300,000.
As well as disclosing the recall, the Japanese electronics maker also said that it may revise its earnings forecast for the year due to the increasing recall costs and price cuts in the PlayStation 3.
The company had already indicated that it would be revising the cost of the recall upward from a previously forecasted $250 million. Analysts now expect the number to double, and new calls for additional compensation from partners could push that number near $1 billion.
Sony currently forecasts a 130 billion yen profit for the year, a 43 percent drop from last year. However, that forecast was made in July, well before the recall began to take shape. Now, analysts believe the company's profit could be as little as a third of that number.
Regardless, most expect the company to rebound in 2007 with the PS3's release, barring any unforeseen issues in distribution or manufacture.
"We are in the process of determining whether a revision to our annual earnings outlook is necessary," the company said in a statement. Besides the recall and PlayStation 3 issues, other factors such as exchange rates and overall company performance would be factored in.
Sony's continuing troubles financially may have factored into Sony Advisory Board Chairman Noboyuki Idei's surprising comments last week where he all but indicated current CEO Howard Stringer may be on his way out.
Anyone know which specific batteries are being recalled? A friend of mine wants to buy a sony laptop, I'd hate for his new laptop to catch on fire!!
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|If he buys a sony he deserves it!
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|Most of the laptops won't catch on fire, and if it actually does, probably you'll get more than enough compensation for it. Although if your friend is planning on getting a sony laptop, just remind him that most sony laptops has a little shorter life expectancy than most others. I've been using 5 generations of Sony laptops, and it's all starting to show some problems when nearing two years. Other than that, it's perfectly fine... The customer support, well customer support is horrible everywhere so nevermind.
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|Wah?!?! Where's Mark?!? Lol :)
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|What's there to say. I'm sure there are fools that think the battery "fiasco" will sink the company, but it's not gonna happen..
What's funny, is there are fools posting in this thread about PS3, which is totally unrelated.
Also since when does "We are in the process of determining whether a revision to our annual earnings outlook is necessary," == "Financial Trouble"
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|Yea right .. you can tell all is peachy when the CEO is hinted at being given the golden handshake.
"I'm sure there are fools that think the battery "fiasco" will sink the company, but it's not gonna happen.."
Sink .. probebly not, but you cant argue its a titanic crossing the atlantic heading north full steam ahead with all lifeboats full of melting batteries and a choppy ride ahead.
"What's funny, is there are fools posting in this thread about PS3, which is totally unrelated."
Its so unrelated thats its named 3 times in the article LOL .
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|"What's funny, is there are fools posting in this thread about PS3, which is totally unrelated."
What's funny is there are fools that are typing replies without even reading the article. The PS3 is mentioned a number of times.
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|"What's funny is there are fools that are typing replies without even reading the article. The PS3 is mentioned a number of times."
Whats funny is ... Oh I cant be bothered .. you didnt read my reply :(
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|Sorry, you're reply was awesome.
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|Couldnt happen to a more deserving company.
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|because.. They didn't make your Xbox??? Great reason...
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|I dont own a console.
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|Not liking Sony or the PS3 does not mean that person owns an xbox. Just because you are a fanboy doesn't mean everyone else is.
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|No... just Sony sucks period!
Lets see in 1 year Sony has given us Root kits, Lied about them, didn't recall the bad CD's correctly postponed blue ray several times, delayed the PS3 several times lied about availability of the PS3 (Quanities), started how many fires with their faulty batteries, left their own batteries in their notebooks to be recalled last.
Have I forgot anything?
WOW why would anyone want a Sony product of any type?
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|Erm, you seem to have your facts wrong, there was only 1 "rootkit", not plural..
Also not EVERY Sony battery is affected, only some, depending upon the manufacturing line, as it was caused by stray metal particles.
I also seem to remember Microsoft lying about XBox360 launch availability, or have you forgotten that...
As for the Blu-Ray / PS3 delay, it's a good thing. I would rather have a finished console when it's ready, rather than a rushed, feature slashed Xmas cash-in console thanks..
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|I have never seen anyone so dedicated to company and their products before... it almost seems like a sickness.
-The rootkit was on multiple cd releases and correcting his wording is not an argument, the rootkit sucked.
-You are right, not all Sony batteries were affected, but 7-8 million recalled batteries since August at 4-8 cells per, with Sony typically manufacturing 27 million cells each month is a pretty serious problem. How about the companies that will no longer use cells made by Sony?
-There is no argument in something that MS did, your logic has failed you. On top of the battery mess this could be a financial nightmare for Sony.
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|financial trouble for the great Sony? Seems too many unqualified degreed people were hired!
Passion!!!! foos...without it your degrees will mean nothing!! :D
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|Punctuation, without it, your sentences are ambiguous.
Passion is no substitute for incompetence, and a degree is only worth the effort you put in to receive it.
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|yes punctuation snobs on forums where netiquette calls for cutting things short when we donn't need it...since we should be smart enough to infer...but I digress
.,!@# I've never made any remarks to anyone on any forum if they run things together
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|That 130 billion number sounds nice until you see the word Yen after it. That only comes out to a bit over 1 billion US dollars. From yesterday's article: "If all companies ask for compensation, the number could quickly approach $1 billion".
The way things are going it may be even higher, and that's not counting their PS3 losses. Sorry Sony, no profit for you.
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|Only $1bn profit? Seriously what planet did you get off on. That's *profit*.. i.e. money they have made over costs. OK so it's 43% down but that's still $1bn profit.
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|Perhaps I need to clarify my post since you obviously didn't read the article:
"If all companies ask for compensation, the LOSS could quickly approach $1 billion".
There you go. It's talking about how much they are losing on their battery fiasco. Since they only expected a profit of 1 billion this year, and since that number is expected to be only a third of that, when you throw in a billion dollar loss on the batteries alone you can't very well say they are making a profit, unless you are really bad at math.
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