The struggling electronics and entertainment company Sony announced it had suffered an annual loss of $1 billion and that it was selling its PC business and shedding 5,000 more jobs globally.
"The Japanese electronics and entertainment maker, battered by stiff competition from Samsung Electronics of South Korea and Apple, the U.S. maker of the hit iPod and iPad, acknowledged it won't be able to stop losing money in its Vaio PC or Bravia TV operations as it had repeatedly promised.
"Tokyo-based Sony said it will split off its money-losing TV division and run it as a wholly-owned subsidiary."
Bloomberg reports that this year, the world's No. 3 TV maker will have an operating income of less than half what it projected in October. Bloomberg adds:
"A bright spot for the company has been its new PlayStation 4 game console, which sold more than 4.2 million units in the first six weeks after its November release, outpacing competing machines.
"At the same time, demand for cameras and camcorders continues shrinking, and the TV business has lost ground in a contracting market to put it further behind South Korea's Samsung and LG Electronics Inc.
"Sony's share of global TV revenue fell to 7.5 percent in the third quarter last year from 8.1 percent the previous quarter, according to NPD DisplaySearch. Sony ranked third, trailing Samsung and LG."
CNN money reports that Sony had briefly jumped into profitability last year, but "things are now so bad that Moody's has decided that Sony is no longer worthy of an investment-grade credit rating."
The credit rating agency downgraded Sony's credit to junk status in January.
The AP said analysts have warned that Sony was juggling too many businesses for years.
"The moves announced Thursday might even be too little too late," the news service adds.
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