Sony records 84 pct quarterly profit drop on movie loss

Japanese electronics and entertainment company Sony Corp. Says its profit dropped 84 per cent in October-December as losses in its movie division offset healthy results in its video game business.
Tokyo-based Sony, which makes the PlayStation 4 game machine and Bravia TVs, reported a fiscal third quarter profit of 19.6 billion yen (USD 174 million), down from 120.1 billion yen the previous year.
Quarterly sales slipped 7 percent to 2.4 trillion yen (USD 21.3 billion), mainly because of unfavorable foreign exchange rates, the company said today.
Sony also lowered its full year fiscal profit forecast because of the USD 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.