Toshiba Loses 95% Profit, Launches Blu-Ray Player

The death of Toshiba's HD-DVD high-definition format triggered a series of losses in revenue that are reported to have reached alarming levels. According to Toshiba, the company's profit barely reached a faint 1.25 billion yen, much lower than the expected 26.17 billion yen achieved an year earlier.

The company estimates that it lost about $461 million in discontinuing the HD-DVD business, such as dealing with leftover inventory as well as shutting down assembly lines or shedding jobs. More than that, Toshiba was already facing significant operational loses for the fiscal year ending March 31, situated at about 60.2 billion yen.

Retail chains such as Wal-Mart and Best Buy tried to keep its customers by offering them either return deals or further discounts for those who had purchased HD-DVD players. However, Toshiba took the greatest blow and saw its profit sink.

According to Toshiba, its net profit fell 7.3 percent to 127.4 billion yen ($1.23 billion) during the fiscal year that ended March. Operating profit also went down slipped 7.8 percent to 238.1 billion yen, but revenue rose 7.8 percent to 7.67 trillion yen.

"We saw a deterioration in profit related to the termination of the HD DVD businesses," Toshiba corporate executive vice president Fumio Muraoka said during a news conference. "This impact was a major factor for the bottomline profit decline," Muraoka continued.

The HD-DVD group announced that it would cease its involvement on the high-definition market and allow Sony's Blu-Ray format to become the next industry standard.

However, as Toshiba continues to suffer after the death of its format, it seems like the Brazilian division of the company could be about to launch a hybrid TV tuner, as well as a Blu-Ray and HD DVD player. The new player will be manufacturer by Semp Toshiba in Brazil, and is expected to hit the shelves in early May.

The embedded system will be powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo 6300 and will run Windows Home Premium. More than that, the new player will be able to render both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray disks, along other optical media.


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