Samsung posts first-ever quarterly loss
There's more gloomy financial news from the tech sector today with Samsung reporting its first-ever quarterly loss.
The coffers of world's largest maker of memory chips sprang a leak in its fourth quarter under pressure of collapsing prices in memory and LCD displays as well as slowing demand from the global recession.
Samsung's Q4 loss comes a day after Sony warned of its first operating loss in 14 years, blaming the same conditions.
Samsung's fourth quarter net loss was 22.2bn won ($16m, £12m) compared to a 2.21 trillion won profit a year ago. Excluding a 660bn won tax credit, the loss was 937.1bn ($679m, £493m).
"The global economic slowdown had an adverse effect on consumer purchases of electronics goods in the fourth quarter, traditionally a strong period for electronic companies," the company stated.
