HD DVD failure cost Toshiba $1 Billion

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Toshiba's high-definition format HD DVD, which was put to sleep last month, cost the company a whopping one billion dollars, reports Japanese source. After huge marketing campaigns, handful of price drops and lost partners HD DVD was officially buried. According to Nikkei Business Daily the war cost Toshiba approximately 100 billion yen, or $986 million.

Nikkei claims that as much as $500 million comes from the shutdown of HD DVD production lines, the rest can be explained by the extensive advertisement campaigns and poor product sales. In comparison, the 30-second Super Bowl advertisement cost Toshiba almost $3 million alone.

Toshiba did not comment the Nikkei's figures, but according to a Toshiba representative the company is currently estimating the losses.

http://www.reuters.com/article/techn...28076020080313