7200RPM are the platters that matter for Western Digital

Losses, sales are down

By Robert Blincoe • Get more from this author

Posted in Business, 26th July 2001 15:17 GMT

Free whitepaper – Solid State Drives and High-Speed Memory

Hard drive boys Western Digital have reported Q4 revenues of $456 million, down on last years $473.9 million.

It managed with a net loss of $9 million for the period, but a one off charge of $52.2 million means the total net loss for the quarter was $61.2 million.

The company sold 5.3 million hard drives in the period. The 7200 RPM segment accounted for 58 per cent of revenues.

Matt Massengill, president and CEO, said the company had built fewer drives in the quarter because it didn't want to get stuck with inventory problems due to the PC market slowdown.

This quarter Western Digital will begin volume production deliveries of WD hard drives to Microsoft for the Xbox.

For the full fiscal year 2001, the company reported revenues of $1.95 billion, down on fiscal 2000s $1.96 billion, and a net loss before nonrecurring items of $67.4 million. Including nonrecurring charges and extraordinary gains from bond redemptions, the total net loss for fiscal 2001 was $98.9 million. ®