Sony cuts outlook, now expects annual loss

MarketWatch.com - MarketPulse LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- Sony Corp. posted quarterly earning Thursday, cutting its outlook for the fiscal-year ending in March to a loss of 110 billion yen ($1.1 billion) from a profit of ¥30 billion, while also confirming it will sell its Vaio personal-computer unit to a Japanese investment fund. For the October-December quarter, the conglomerate posted a ¥27 billion net profit on ¥2.41 trillion in revenue, compared to a loss of ¥10.8 billion on revenue of ¥1.95 trillion in the same quarter of 2012. Operating profit for the period totaled ¥90.3 billion, beating a consensus forecast of ¥71.9 billion, according to Reuters. Sony also plans to cut some 5,000 jobs by the end of the year, according to Dow Jones Newswires. Shares of Sony ended 1.5% higher ahead of the results.Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.