Sony Corp yesterday posted a 33.5 percent jump in quarterly profit as sales improved in its PlayStation 4 (PS4) video game business.
Tokyo-based Sony kept its full-year profit projection unchanged at ¥140 billion (US$1.2 billion), which would be a reversal from red ink in the previous fiscal year.
Sony recorded a ¥120 billion October-December profit. Sales for the fiscal third quarter edged up 0.5 percent to ¥2.58 trillion.
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Sony, which also makes Bravia TVs and Xperia mobile phones, has been undergoing a marathon restructuring to focus on more profitable operations.
The company’s sales were still struggling in image sensors and mobile communications, but it received a lift from better sales of PS4 game software as well as the machines.
The Japanese electronics and entertainment conglomerate, which also has a music division, benefited from the strong theatrical performances of the films Spectre and Hotel Transylvania 2.
Sales in its music business improved with the release of Adele’s new album 25. One Direction’s Made in the A.M. was also a strong seller.
The results appeared to show that Sony was gradually getting its restructuring under control, after selling some assets, such as its Vaio personal computer business and its stake in Japanese game maker Square Enix.
However, its once strong brand image has lost much of its luster in the face of competition from Apple Inc in digital music players and smartphones, as well as Samsung Electronics Co of South Korea in TVs.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last