No worries: Sony still on target despite forecast slash

The industry worried for Sony last week when they slashed their earnings forecast by 57%. Sony doesn’t intend to let it drag them down though. Chairman Howard Stringer intends to get the company “back on target [for] 2010, which I intend to keep.”

Business talk in the full article.

The industry worried for Sony last week when they slashed their earnings forecast by 57%. Sony doesn’t intend to let it drag them down though.

Speaking at the Nikkei Global Management Forum in Tokyo, Chairman Howard Stringer said that:

I have to offset the losses that the yen created so that we can get the company back on target along the target of 2010 which I intend to keep.

Ok, let’s talk business. To fill you in, a major part of Sony’s woes right now stem from a strong Yen against the weakening dollar. Despite being a Japanese company, much of their investments are in the US, so a weak dollar will naturally affect it.

Sony’s target for 2010 is to raise its return on equity by 10%, a plan which they announced last June. It’s ambitious, as it’s almost double Sony’s average in the past five years. With their slashed earnings forecast, one would naturally assume that they wouldn’t be able to meet this goal. However, it sounds like Stringer is confident that they’ll be able to meet it.

Business talk over. So what does this mean for us gamers? It means Sony doesn’t intend to just lie down and take it, so let’s not worry for the future of the PS3 and the PSP just yet.

• David Perry: E3 is lost, Sony needs new strategies
• Yen gains against dollar, Nintendo shares go down

Via Bloomberg