Sun posts $760m net loss

Sun has revealed new executive appointments and a new shape to the firm under its latest chief operating officer and president, Jonathan Schwartz.

It also revealed a net loss of $760m (£426m) and revenues of $2.65bn (£1.5bn) for the third quarter of its 2004 financial year.

The company's microprocessors, enterprise systems and SPARC-based volume systems initiatives will come under the umbrella of the Throughput Systems organisation, led by executive vice president David Yen.

This group will be responsible for Sun's Throughput Computing and Throughput Networking initiatives.

Intel and AMD processor-based systems will fall under the Network Systems organisation, led by John Fowler, which will work on delivering low-cost systems with off-the-shelf components.

Schwartz said in a statement: "We are executing a carefully considered plan to drive operational efficiencies, strategic alignment and cost reductions, while continuing to deliver differentiated value to customers."

Both Yen and Fowler will report to Schwartz.

Sun has already announced 3,300 job cuts as part of its restructuring.

The company's third-quarter revenues showed a drop of 5 per cent compared with $2.8bn for the third quarter of 2003. Net loss for the quarter was $760m compared with net income of $4m for the same quarter last year.

Sun said the loss included a non-cash charge of $300m for an increase in the valuation allowance for deferred tax assets, a charge of $203m for workforce and real estate restructuring, and a gain of $3m on equity investments.

Excluding these amounts, it said, net loss for the quarter would have been $260m.