Toshiba To Post $977 million In HD DVD Losses In FY07

[Sir Terrence]

Originally Posted by d_rob1031

They actually were probably making a profit on those players, in the early onset anyway and even with their newer models (before the price cuts). But by the time you figure in marketing costs, R&D costs, paying off movie studio costs, etc., they could have been making money off of the players but they were spending more than they were making. On top of that they just didn't move many units. Period. Profit margin only goes so far on a product, gotta move units on top of that.

You really cannot isolate costs this way. You have to figure in marketing costs, R&D, and paying off movie studios as part of the cost of each player. Even if you parce it out in the way you are doing, it still ends up being a net loss on each player. The bottom line is Toshiba was subsidizing the market, and that is all there is to it.