Sony Corp. said Tuesday its group operating profit in the October-December period plunged 14.9 percent from 2005 to 178.9 billion yen due to the cost of launching the PlayStation 3 in November.
Sony posted a net profit of 159.9 billion yen, down 5.3 percent from the same quarter of 2005, on sales of 2.6 trillion yen, which jumped 9.8 percent.
Although Sony suffered a loss in its game sector, its electronics business raked in an operating profit of 177.4 billion yen, or twice as much as in the same period last year, on sales of 1.87 trillion yen thanks to brisk sales of Bravia flat-panel TVs.