Sony Projects Massive Annual Loss, Thanks to Tsunami

Media giant had predicted a profit for the fiscal year ended in March, but now projects $3.2 billion loss

Sony revised its fiscal year forecast on Monday to reflect the big losses it will suffer, in large part because of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. 

The media giant projects that it lost $3.2 billion (260 billion yen) for the last fiscal year.

Sony had projected a profit of $854 million (70 billion yen).

However, Sony maintained that operating income remained at $2.5 billion, without the earthquake write-off. 

Nine Sony plants were damaged because of the natural disasters, and other plants were temporarily closed and distribution of the company's tech products was disrupted. All told, Sony lost on the level of $270 million from the earthquake and its aftermath.

Sony also had to deal with the fallout surrounding the hacking of its PlayStation Networks last month. That resulted in severe disruptions to the company's various online services. Sony spent $170 million to investigate the hacking and repair the damage to customers, according to the Associated Press. However, that hit after the company's fiscal year ended in March.  

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