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.