Sony calls red ink forecast worst loss ever

Sony Corp. more than doubled its projected annual loss to $6.4 billion, its worst red ink ever, due to a massive tax charge.

With new chief executive Kazuo Hirai at its helm, the Japanese electronics company said Tuesday it expects an additional tax expense of about $3.7 billion in the fiscal fourth quarter ending March 30. It said this noncash charge stemmed from revaluing U.S. tax credits that are unlikely to be utilized due to its string of annual losses.

In February, it had projected an annual net loss of $2.7 billion amid weak TV sales, the strong yen and production disruptions from flooding in Thailand.

The company said its operating loss forecast was unchanged at a loss of $1.2 billion. It forecast a return to profit in the year through March 2013.

Japanese news reports on Monday said Sony would cut about 10,000 jobs worldwide during the next year as it tries to return to profit, but the company would not confirm that.

This would be the fourth year of red ink for Sony -- a daunting challenge for Hirai, who took over as chief executive from Welsh-born Howard Stringer this month. Hirai is due to outline the company's new corporate strategy to journalists on Thursday.

Sony, whose businesses sprawl from cameras and cellphones to PlayStation game consoles and movies such as "The Smurfs," has for years been struggling to regain the swagger and creative flair that made it a dominant force in the global electronics industry in the 1980s and early 1990s.