Tokyo - Toshiba is likely to report a loss of about $986 million at its HD DVD business for the year, after deciding to discontinue the format and cede victory to Sony's (NYSE: SNE) Blu-ray, according to an estimate in Japan's Nikkei business paper, Reuters reports.

Production line changes and other charges associated with the shuttering will double the loss that Toshiba had previously expected, Nikkei reported.

In addition to U.S. retailer Best Buy's offer of $10 million in $50 gift cards to its HD DVD buyers announced today, Japanese retailer Edion Corp. has offered to swap HD DVD players purchased by its customers with Blu-ray players.

On the latter deal, consumers would be paying any difference in retail price on the players.

Shares of Toshiba were down 2.3% at Thursday's opening, Reuters reported.

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