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Tim Culpan

Sony Paid $2.3 Billion for That Huge Guidance Boost

A non-cash accounting adjustment was a big contributor to its more optimistic outlook.

Sony’s music-publishing deal is the unsung hero in its outlook. — Sony’s music-publishing deal is the unsung hero in its outlook.
Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg

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October 30, 2018, 7:06 AM UTC

Sony Corp. just raised its full-year operating-income guidance by 30 percent, or 200 billion yen ($1.77 billion).

That’s a powerful message to investors that the company is doing a good job of leveraging its games business to extract ongoing revenues. Software, PlayStation 4 hardware, a favorable exchange rate, and PS Plus membership were all cited for raising the revenue estimate for that division by 8 percent. This in turn spurred Sony to boost its operating-profit guidance for that unit by 24 percent to 310 billion yen.