Sony Sales Up, Profits Down In Fiscal 2001

Net income reached 15.3 billion yen ($119 million), compared to 16.8 billion yen last year. Yet the company saw its best consolidated sales results ever, totaling 7.6 trillion yen ($59 billion), up from 7.3 trillion yen last year. Like Nintendo, Sony was able to boost its top line thanks to a weak yen, which made its products more affordable overseas. One of the bright spots in the company's results was the game division, which posted sales of 1 trillion yen ($7.8 billion), up from 660 billion yen last year. Operating income from games totaled 83 billion yen ($643 million), a huge turnaround from its 51 billion yen loss last year. Sony executives said that the outlook for the company is improving, and predicted that income will hit 150 billion yen ($1.2 billion) for the current fiscal year -- a staggering 10 times last year's profits.