Jackson helps boost Sony’s bottom line

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Stacey Vanek-Smith: Sony lost money for the third straight quarter. The recession has consumers scaling back on gadgets. Still, Sony boosted its outlook for the year. The tech giant seems to be turning things around with a little help from “Human Nature.” Jennifer Collins has more.

Jennifer Collins: Sony struggled to produce a hit new gadget. It doesn’t have anything like the iPhone or the Wii. Sales of the company’s PlayStation 3 have been decent. But what’s really helping the bottom line is this star performer:

Michael Jackson: Why? Tell them that it’s human nature. Why why…

Michael Jackson. Sony still controls much of Jackson’s catalog. And it got a major boost from sales of his songs after his death this summer.

Ali Jaafar is the international editor for Variety in London.

Ali Jaafar: The whole death of Michael Jackson has turned into a pop-culture phenomenon. I mean it’s spawned a whole industry. So I’m sure Sony will be looking to get a sizeable chunk of that themselves.

And Sony is looking for another revenue bump with the Jackson film “This Is It.” The movie earned $20 million on its first day in theaters this week.

I’m Jennifer Collins for Marketplace.