JAPAN-SONY - The $6.4 billion (520 billion yen) net loss will be Sony's biggest ever, and more than double a forecast the Japanese technology firm made only in February.

Sony says the heftier loss comes from a charge of around $3.7 billion (300 billion yen) in additional tax expenses in the U.S., where it's been facing severe conditions in recent years.

Analysts were expecting a full-year loss of about $2.6 billion.

In a bid to ease investor alarm over its deteriorating bottomline, Sony is forecasting a turnaround in the current financial year, projecting operating profits of $2.2 billion (180 billion yen).

Sony shares closed 3.5 percent lower ahead of the announcement Tuesday, hammered by a combination of a poor U.S. jobs report, and the Bank of Japan holding rates steady.

Local media say Sony plans to slash around 10,000 jobs, or 6 percent of its group employees worldwide, in the fiscal year through March next year.

Arnold Gay, Reuters.