Battery Recalls Kill Sony Profits

October 25th, 2006 at 3:00 PM - News by Jeff Gamet

Sony took a hard hit to its bottom line in the July/September quarter thanks in part to a massive battery recall. Profits for the quarter dropped 94 percent, according to a report at Forbes.

The battery recall, along with Sonyis poorly performing video game business, pulled profits down to 1.7 billion yen (about US$14 million) for the quarter, down from 28.5 billion yen (about $239 million) for the same time last year.

Sony is in the middle of a recall 9.6 million laptop batteries it manufactured for several computer companies including Apple Computer, Dell, Lenovo, and several others. The batteries can overheat and pose a potential fire hazard.

Earlier this week, Sony executives apologized for the problems the batteries and associated recall have caused.