Sammy and Sega should make a billion dollar profit - Satomi

Sega's new president and Sammy CEO Hajime Satomi wants to see the two companies making a billion dollar combined annual profit by 2006, with Sega's operations contributing at least $200 million of that figure.

Satomi-san told Reuters that for the year ended March 2006, he hoped to see profit figures of $750 to $800 million for Sammy, and over $200 million for Sega, giving the combined enterprise an overall profit of around a billion dollars.

It's an ambitious target which, if achieved, would certainly make Sammy/Sega into one of the most important players in the global videogame industry - although it should be borne in mind that a large proportion of Sammy's profits would come from its pachinko gambling machine business.

As yet Sammy has not announced its intentions regarding its relationship with Sega going forward, and it's believed that discussions are still underway on this topic. It's possible than an overall holding company will be formed to incorporate both businesses, or that Sega will be fully integrated with Sammy's operations as a subsidiary company.

GameFront (Germany)