This summary is based on the third quarter fiscal 2007 earnings call conducted by Sony Corporation (SNE: chart) on January 31, 2007.

Management:

GE, EVP and CFO: Robert Wiesenthal
EVP and CFO: Nobuyuki Oneda
IR: Sam Levenson

Key Investor Issues:

- Consolidated sales increased by 10% year-on-year to ¥2.859 trillion from ¥2.607 trillion.
- Consolidated operating income rose 6% to ¥189.4 billion for the current year.
- The Sony Financials IPO recorded a gain of ¥81 billion.
- Net income rose 25% to ¥200.2 billion versus last year figure of ¥159.9 billion.

Fiscal 2007 Highlights

- Diluted earnings per share were up 25% to ¥190.29 from ¥152.49 in 2006.
- The Pictures segment sales dropped 25% to ¥223.8 billion year-on-year.
- Financial services segment revenues eased 21% to ¥135.9 billion versus ¥172.9 billion in 2006.
- All other segment recorded a 2% rise in revenues to ¥96 billion.
- Sales at Sony BMG remained flat year-on-year at about $1.471 million.

Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2007 Highlights

Sales in the Electronics segment grew by 10% to ¥2.069 billion, setting a record for quarterly sales.

Sales to outside customers were up 14% year-on-year. The increase was helped by good product sales of BRAVIA LCD TVs, VAIO PCs and Cyber-shot Digital Cameras. The LCD rear-projection TVs, which suffered from a shrinking market, recorded a decline in sales during the quarter. The sales increase was also a result of benefits from the depreciation of the Yen against the Euro, though the price declines exceeded cost improvements.

- The management has decided to exit the LCD rear-projection TVs market and concentrate on the growing LCD TV and OLED TV businesses.
- Operating income for the Electronics segment was down 7% to ¥166.5 billion from last year’s record quarterly figures.
- Inventory levels for the Electronics were recorded at ¥893.3 billion, a 5% increase compared with last year quarter. Inventory however dropped 13% from September 2007 levels.

Overall sales of the TV category for the quarter were about ¥508 billion, an increase of 20% from the past year.

Operating income in the TV category dropped by ¥9 billion from last year to ¥4 billion.

Quarterly sales for the semi-conductor category were approximately ¥231 billion, representing a 9% drop from the year ago quarter.

The management continues to work towards making the semi-conductor business profitable for the full year despite the declines in operating income and profit figures.

Sony Ericsson continues to outpace industry growth, with a record 2% market share growth in 2007 to about 10%.

For the December quarter, unit sales were up 18% year-on-year to about 31 million units.

Quarterly revenues and income before taxes were flat at €3.771 billion and €501 million respectively as the company increased on the proportion of lower priced handsets.

The Game segment recorded sales increase of 31% to ¥581.2 billion, with three quarters of sales coming from hardware and accessories.

Hardware sales were enhanced by PS3 sales and PS2 sales exceeded past year figures in Eastern Europe, Middle East and Asia. The management is bullish about PS2 business and unit forecasts have been revised upwards from 10 million units to 13 million units for the fiscal year.