Sony Corp. said Thursday that it posted an ¥18 billion group operating loss for the third quarter that ended in December as its mainline electronics business was battered by the higher yen, the global recession and stiff competition.
The result — a dramatic turnaround from a ¥236.2 billion profit posted in the same period the year before — is its first operating loss for the October-December quarter.
"The yen's appreciation is responsible for the operating profit's year-on-year deterioration," Nobuyuki Oneda, Sony's chief financial officer, told a news conference in Tokyo.