Sony shares drop after Vaio recall
September 5th, 2008 | by admin |TOKYO, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Shares in Japan’s Sony Corp(6758.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) dropped 3 percent on Friday after the electronics makersaid it would recall 438,000 Vaio portable computers due topossible overheating that could burn a user.
Sony has been dogged in recent years by recalls of laptopcomputer batteries amid concerns they would overheat and catchfire. Dell Inc (DELL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Apple Inc (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Lenovo Group Ltd(0992.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), Toshiba Corp (6502.T: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and some other PC makersrecalled more than 8 million Sony batteries in 2006.Sony spokesman Shinichi Tobe said the company sees limitedimpact on its earnings from the latest recall — one of thebiggest computer recalls since 2006 when Dell Inc (DELL.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)recalled 4.1 million notebook computer batteries.
Sony said the flaw in the Vaio laptops, produced between May2007 and July 2008, is related to irregularly positioned wiresnear the computer’s hinge that can cause a short circuit andoverheat. [ID:nN04439855]
Tobe said the company had the first report of the trouble inAugust 2007 but had replaced parts individually for those thatwere affected. It reported to the Japanese government of theproblems last month when there were more than 200 cases worldwideand moved to a voluntary recall, announced on Thursday.
Sony shares were down 3 percent at 3,930 yen as of 0014 GMT.The Nikkei average .N225 was down 2.6 percent. (Reporting by Sachi Izumi)
