Sony posts 84% quarterly profit drop on movie loss

PanARMENIAN.Net - Japanese electronics and entertainment company Sony Corp. says its profit dropped 84 percent in October-December as losses in its movie division offset healthy results in its video game business, The Associated Press reports.

Tokyo-based Sony, which makes the PlayStation 4 game machine and Bravia TVs, reported a fiscal third quarter profit of 19.6 billion yen ($174 million), down from 120.1 billion yen the previous year.

Quarterly sales slipped 7 percent to 2.4 trillion yen ($21.3 billion), mainly because of unfavorable foreign exchange rates, the company said Thursday, February 2.

Sony also lowered its full year fiscal profit forecast because of the $962 million write-down in its film division, stemming from its acquisition of Columbia Pictures in 1989.

Sony announced what's called "goodwill impairment," lowering the profitability projection from its movie division, earlier this week.