By Yuri Kageyama, Business Writer
TOKYO (AP) --Japanese entertainment and electronics company Sony Corp. has reverted to profitability for the quarter through March, boosted by robust demand for game software and network services, as well as gains from Spotify.
Sony reported an 87.9 billion yen ($787 million) January-March profit Friday, a reversal from the 13.3 billion yen loss racked up the previous year.
Quarterly sales totaled 2.1 trillion yen ($19 billion), up 9% from 1.9 trillion yen.
For the fiscal year, Sony reported a near doubling in profit to 916.3 billion yen ($8.2 billion), up from 490.8 billion yen. Sales rose 1% to 8.67 trillion yen ($78 billion).
Sony got a gain for its stake in Spotify, which was publicly listed in April last year. Sony owned 5.7% of Spotify at that time. Sony has sold some of its stake in Spotify over the last year, it said.
Also helping the bottom line was its semiconductors business, but the mobile phone operations continued to lag, according to Tokyo-based Sony.
Sony's film division saw a sales dip because of the strong performance of "Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle" and "Spider-Man: Homecoming" the previous year. Such works contributed this year in television licensing and home entertainment sales.
The company said sales in its music business remained flat but profit grew as a result of the consolidation of EMI, which has a vast music catalog. Recording artists for Sony's music business include Khalid and Justin Timberlake.
Sony, which makes Bravia digital TVs and the Aibo robotic dog, is expecting a 500 billion yen ($4.5 billion) profit for the fiscal year through March 2020, down 45% from the fiscal year just ended.
SMPTE elects board officers, regional governors
SMPTE®,the home of media professionals, technologists, and engineers, has revealed the board officers and regional governors who will serve terms beginning in January 2025.
Three new officers--Richard Welsh as SMPTE president, Eric Gsell as SMPTE executive VP, and Polly Hickling as SMPTE Education VP--have been elected for a two-year term from Jan. 1, 2025, to Dec. 31, 2026. One SMPTE officer, Lisa Hobbs, will be continuing her service as SMPTE secretary and treasurer for another two-year term. Additionally, Raymond Yeung will be stepping into the role of standards VP on Jan. 1, 2025.
“SMPTE’s membership has spoken,” said SMPTE interim executive director Sally-Ann D’Amato. “These officers have been tasked with an important responsibility, one each of them is prepared to tackle head-on. These next two years are looking bright for SMPTE!”
In addition to the officers, 10 regional governors were elected by the Society to serve two-year 2025-2026 terms.
These include the following regional governors, re-elected to continue their service:
Asia-Pacific Region Governor
Tony Ngai, Society of Motion Imaging Ltd.
EMEA - Central & South America Region Governor
Fernando Bittencourt, FB Consultant
United Kingdom Region Governor
Chris Johns, Sky UK.
USA - Central Region Governor
William T. Hayes, Consultant
USA - Eastern Region Governor
Dover Jeanne Mundt, Riedel Communications
USA - Western Region Governor
Jeffrey F. Way, Open Drives
Also elected were four newcomers to the SMPTE Board:
Canada Region Governor
Jonathan Jobin, Grass Valley
USA - Hollywood Region Governor
Allan Schollnick, Voxx... Read More