Finally, after closing 18% of its manufacturing facilities and cutting 20,000 heads across its global organization, Sony just posted a profit for the quarter. We're talking an operating profit of ¥146 billion ($1.5 billion) for the quarter on ¥2.2 trillion in sales. Sony's net profitability came in at ¥79.2 billion after three straight quarters of losses, handily beating The Street's mean estimate of ¥33.73 billion sending stock up some 4% at the time of this post. Unfortunately for us gadget nerds, Sony's return to prosperity is largely due to a doubling of sales at Sony's financial unit and a 16% rise in its movie business -- sales from its consumer products and devices division were off 11% thanks to flat-panel TV price competition
