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Sony said sales of its flagship PlayStation 5 console totalled 20.8 million in the fiscal year 2023 slightly lower than an already revised-down 21 million unit target.

Nikos Pekiaridis | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Sony on Tuesday reported a 7% drop in annual profits in the fiscal year 2023, dragged down by a decline in its financial services division.

The company also narrowly missed its forecast for unit sales of its flagship PlayStation 5 gaming console for the full year.

Here’s how Sony did in the March quarter versus LSEG consensus estimates:

  • Revenue: 3.5 trillion yen ($22.4 billion) versus 2.89 trillion yen expected. That represents a 14% increase year-over-year — but the first drop since Sony’s 2020 September quarter, according to LSEG data.
  • Operating profit: 229.4 billion yen versus 236.81 billion yen expected. That marks a 57% jump year-over-year.

The Japanese gaming giant reported 2023 revenue of 13 trillion, an increase of 19% year-over-year.

Sony’s operating profit for the full year, though, came in at 1.2 trillion yen, down 7% year-over-year.

Sony narrowly missed its revised down target for PlayStation 5 sales. The firm said that sales of its flagship console totalled 20.8 million in the fiscal year 2023.

That’s slightly lower than the revised 21 million unit target that Sony gave investors in February. Prior to that, the company had forecast that its PS5 console would sell 25 million units for the full year.

Sony expects even weaker sales of 18 million units of its PS5 in the year ending March 2025, a company executive said, according to Reuters.

It comes after Sony on Monday announced a management shakeup in its Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE) gaming unit, with the division’s interim CEO Hiroki Totoki becoming chairman of the business.

Long-time Sony executives Hideaki Nishino and Hermen Hulst were appointed CEO of the Platform Business Group and Studio Business Group, respectively — two newly created divisions of SIE.

Financial unit weighs on profit

Sony said its financial services business was the primary segment driving down profit.

In 2023, operating income in the financial services unit came in at 173.6 billion yen, marking a 22.5% year-on-year drop after a firm increase in 2022.

The company also suffered from a decline in its imaging and sensing solutions (I&SS) business, which houses its imaging chips.

Sony’s I&SS business recorded operating income of 193.5 billion yen, down 9% from 2022.

Sony said it’s forecasting a drop in overall group revenue for the current fiscal year. The company expects sales will reach 12.3 trillion yen for the year ending March 2025, down 5%.

Fiscal year 2024 operating income is expected to total 1.28 trillion yen, up 5%, Sony said in its consolidated results.

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Elon Musk’s xAI raising $10 billion at $200 billion valuation: sources

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Elon Musk's xAI raising  billion at 0 billion valuation: sources

Elon Musk’s xAI raises $10 billion at $200 billion valuation: sources

Elon Musk’s AI company, xAI, has raised $10 billion from investors that puts the company’s post-money valuation at $200 billion, sources told CNBC’s David Faber.

The valuation for Musk’s AI company is the latest example of skyrocketing valuations for companies that develop foundational AI models. Earlier this month, Anthropic raised $13 billion at a $183 billion valuation. OpenAI, the largest company in the industry, held a secondary share sale that valued it at $500 billion.

The fundraising comes weeks after Musk raised $10 billion in debt and equity at what was believed to be a roughly $150 billion valuation, according to Faber. Last December, xAI raised $6 billion to fund its artificial intelligence development.

However, xAI’s Grok service is widely believed to lag behind Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s GPT models in terms of capabilities and number of users.

Musk said in May that he wants to buy a million AI chips, Faber said. Much of the proceeds of this round of funding could go to building data centers filled with Nvidia and AMD AI chips called GPUs that are needed to develop next-generation AI, as well as to hire expensive talent. The company is currently building a large cluster of AI computers in Memphis, Tennessee.

This is breaking news. Please refresh for updates.

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Top Amazon reseller Pattern opens at $13.50 in Nasdaq debut after IPO raised $300 million

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Top Amazon reseller Pattern opens at .50 in Nasdaq debut after IPO raised 0 million

Pattern Group, one of the leading resellers on Amazon, took the plunge into the public markets on Friday, and saw its stock slip in its Nasdaq debut.

Trading under the ticker “PTRN,” the stock opened at $13.50 after the company sold shares at $14 in its IPO, the middle of the expected range. Pattern’s offering raised $300 million, with half the proceeds going to investors, and valued the company at about $2.5 billion.

The Utah-based company was founded by husband and wife duo David Wright and Melanie Alder in 2013 as iServe Products before changing its name to Pattern in 2019. Pattern currently ranks as the No. 2 Amazon seller in the U.S., based on the number of customer reviews, according to research firm Marketplace Pulse.

The company describes itself as an “ecommerce accelerator” that helps more than 200 brands optimize their sales on online marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart, Target and TikTok Shop. It sells tens of thousands of products across categories ranging from health and wellness, consumer electronics, as well as beauty and personal care. Some of its brand partners include Nestle, Panasonic and Skechers.

The tech IPO market has roared back to life in recent months after an extended dry spell. Ticket reseller StubHub debuted on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday, though its stock dropped in its first two days of trading. Online lender Klarna and Gemini, the crypto firm founded by Cameron and Tyler Wiklevoss, started trading last week. Peter Thiel-backed cryptocurrency exchange Bullish, design software company Figma and stablecoin issuer Circle have also recently hit the market.

In the second quarter, Pattern reported revenue growth of 39% from a year earlier to $598.2 million. The company recorded net income of $16.4 million in the second quarter, compared with $11.3 million a year earlier. Operating income came in at $30.1 million for the period versus $23.1 million in the same period last year.

The company competes with millions of merchants who hawk their wares on Amazon’s sprawling marketplace, where third-party vendors now account for more than half of all goods sold on the site. Pattern said 94% of its 2024 revenue came from consumer product sales on Amazon, with a “substantial majority” in the U.S.

Pattern isn’t the first Amazon seller to pursue an IPO. Pharmapacks, once the top U.S. Amazon seller, eyed going public via a special purpose acquisition company in 2021, before nixing those plans and filing for bankruptcy a year later.

Pattern is hitting the market at a time of major global trade uncertainty, a factor it acknowledged in its prospectus. President Donald Trump‘s tariff threats against trade partners have, for the past five months, sent shockwaves through markets and shaken businesses globally.

“There is significant uncertainty as to the potential actions of the U.S. government with respect to international trade policy and the impact of tariffs, particularly with respect to trade between the United States and China,” Pattern wrote in the filing.

Pattern said the tariffs and trade tensions between the U.S. and China could negatively impact demand for its products, or harm its ability “to sell brand partner products at prices consumers are willing to pay.”

CEO David Wright told CNBC in an interview on Friday that the company was trying to hold its offering “a few months ago,” but delayed because of the tariffs, which were first announced in April. Klarna and StubHub put their IPOs on hold after the market plummeted on Trump’s initial announcement.

But the company’s top risk, according to its prospectus, is its reliance on Amazon and what can happen if the ecommerce giant makes significant alterations.

Pattern said that should Amazon restrict its ability to sell products, terminate the relationship or see any big changes due to litigation or regulation, it “could adversely affect our continued growth, financial condition and results of operations.”

Wright said the Amazon challenge is unavoidable.

“No matter what you’re doing in this space, you’re going to be playing with them,” Wright said. As for Amazon suspending certain brands and sellers, “so long as you stay within the line, they’ve been a great partner for us,” he said.

WATCH: Barclays sees around 20 tech IPOs by year-end

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Apple CEO Tim Cook says iPhone price hikes are not tied to tariffs

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Apple CEO Tim Cook says iPhone price hikes are not tied to tariffs

iPhone 17 goes on sale: Apple CEO Tim Cook opens flagship Fifth Avenue store in New York City

Apple CEO Tim Cook said price hikes on the newest iPhone models aren’t tied to President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariff plans.

“There’s no increase for tariffs in the prices to be totally clear,” Cook told CNBC’s Jim Cramer from Apple’s Fifth Avenue store location in New York City, as the latest iPhone model launched in stores worldwide.

It is one of the first instances in which Cook has decisively addressed tariffs in relation to iPhone prices.

Earlier this month, Apple increased the price of its iPhone 17 Pro model by $100, while maintaining the prices of its entry-level phones. It also introduced an Air model that replaced the Plus at steeper price point.

Many analysts had widely anticipated price hikes despite Cook’s attempts to dodge tariffs.

To circumvent the levies, Apple has pivoted its supply chain to import iPhones to the U.S. from lower tariff countries, such as India and Vietnam. Apple has historically produced a majority of its products in China.

Cook has also made public appearances with Trump as the company commits at least $600 billion toward bolstering U.S. manufacturing and supporting suppliers.

During the June quarter, Cook revealed that the company took an $800-million hit from costs tied to tariffs.

At the same time, Apple faces questions about its slow AI rollout, as well as rising competition in international markets such as China.

“We have AI everywhere in the phone,” Cook told CNBC on Friday. “We just don’t call it” that.

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