Sony Corp. on Thursday predicted profit below analysts' estimates amid slumping TV and game-console sales and worsening earnings from the mobile-phone unit.
Net income in the year ending March 31 may be ¥30 billion, the Tokyo-based maker of Bravia TVs and Cyber-shot cameras said Thursday. That compared with the ¥61.4 billion average of 18 analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg.
Kazuo Hirai, 51, who took over as chief executive officer last month, is eliminating 10,000 jobs, or about 6 percent of the workforce at the nation's largest electronics exporter after losing customers to Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc.
Hirai is turning to mobile devices, games and digital imaging to revive Sony, which has lost about 90 percent of its value since 2000 while failing to deliver trend-setting products like the Walkman.
Sales this year may be ¥7.4 trillion, the company said, compared with the ¥6.78 trillion average forecast of 18 analysts.
Sony is hoping to sell 17.5 million TVs this year, a drop from the 19.6 million units it sold last year, according to the company's statement released Thursday. Sales of compact cameras will remain little changed at 21 million units, Sony said.
Sony, which has lost about ¥919 billion combined over the past four years, predicted an operating profit of ¥180 billion for the year that began in April, compared with analysts' estimates for ¥166.1 billion.
The company based its full-year earnings on exchange rates of ¥105 to the euro and ¥80 to the dollar. Earnings at its mobile phone unit will worsen, Sony said.