Sony Blames Profit Warning on Yen, Weak Demand

So much for the renaissance at Sony. On Oct. 23, the Tokyo electronics and entertainment company issued a profit warning for this year, blaming the yen’s sudden surge and lower expectations for TV and digital camera sales. Sony officials now concede that it’s unlikely the company will achieve some of the ambitious targets set by CEO Howard Stringer less than four months ago (BusinessWeek.com, 6/26/08).

That’s a painful admission. For the past three years, Stringer’s management team has rebuilt a company that was falling behind more innovative rivals such as Apple and Nintendo. This year was supposed to be the first of a three-year move to recapture some of Sony’s past glory (BusinessWeek.com, 1/31/08).

Instead Sony officials are going back to the drawing board.