The Geeks Blog

After further reviewing their financial situation, Sun Microsystems changed it's 4th quarter financial report to a loss of over $1 billion, from a profit of $12 million. "This rather drastic shift comes as a result of a $1.05 billion non-cash charge in its fourth quarter, which ended June 30. The charge was taken "to increase a valuation allowance for its net deferred tax assets in accordance with the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SAFS) No. 109," Sun said in a statement. Basically, Sun's first fiscal quarter, which just ended, came in worse than expected, so the company has made an adjustment to offset some of the loss. Sun had reported a $12 million profit in the fourth quarter, but this now becomes a $1.04 billion or $0.32 per share loss."

While not nearly the boost expected after the holiday season, Amazon did post a profit for the third quarter, but a significant amount of the necessary extra came from nearly $30 million made off exchange rates. "Amazon reported $16 million in net income for the third quarter compared to a $35 million loss a year ago. Amazon typically only reaches profitability in the fourth quarter when the holiday season gives a huge boost to sales. The company's CEO was not shy about seeding the market for the upcoming quarter. "Thanks to free shipping and low prices, we expect more customers to turn to us for their holiday gifting needs this year--producing our biggest holiday shopping season ever," said Jeff Bezos, CEO at Amazon."" reports The Register.