Sony Corp. will cut about 10,000 jobs worldwide over the next year
as it tries to return to profit, Japanese news reports said Monday.
The
Nikkei business daily and other media said Sony's decision to slash 6
percent of its work force comes as it struggles with weak TV sales and
swelling losses.
Sony spokeswoman Yoko Yasukouchi wouldn't confirm the reports.
New CEO Kazuo Hirai is holding a press conference Thursday.
Sony has announced restructuring plans by selling its chemical unit. Sony is also merging its LCD panel operation with Toshiba and Hitachi. Yasukouchi said those changes could affect up to 5,000 employees who are subject to transfers.
Sony
earlier this year reported a 159 billion yen ($2.1 billion) loss for
the October-December quarter and more than doubled its projected loss
for the full fiscal year through March 2013.
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2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
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The company's top seven executives, including its outgoing chief, would
also give up their annual bonus, it added without citing sources.
The report did not give further details of the reductions from Sony's headcount which stood at about 168,000 employees as of March last year.
The report comes after Sony shed its Welsh-born US chief executive Howard Stringer–replaced by his protégé Kazuo Hirai–and said it expected to lose a whopping ¥220 billion ($2.7 billion) by March for a fourth consecutive year in the red.
A spokesman for Sony, known for its Walkman music players and PlayStation game consoles, declined to comment on the report.Sony's new chief is due to hold a press conference later this week.
The report came less than a month after the struggling company announced the sale of its chemical division to the Development Bank of Japan, saying the unit did not fit with its restructuring plans.
The division, which has several thousand employees, accounts for only a small fraction of Sony sales, but the move was widely seen as the first of many changes aimed at reshaping the company.
Industry analysts have said Sony must usher in major reforms amid fierce overseas competition and continuing losses at its mainstay television business. It still generates substantial profits from electronics parts.
Sony has blamed tough competition, falling prices, slow demand, the impact of severe flooding in Thailand last year, and the high yen for its weak balance sheet.
Credit rating agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's both downgraded Sony earlier this year, citing its struggle with the TV operation, among other factors.
During an earlier restructuring announced in December 2008 amid the global financial crisis, Sony cut about 16,000 jobs worldwide.
The report did not give further details of the reductions from Sony's headcount which stood at about 168,000 employees as of March last year.
The report comes after Sony shed its Welsh-born US chief executive Howard Stringer–replaced by his protégé Kazuo Hirai–and said it expected to lose a whopping ¥220 billion ($2.7 billion) by March for a fourth consecutive year in the red.
A spokesman for Sony, known for its Walkman music players and PlayStation game consoles, declined to comment on the report.Sony's new chief is due to hold a press conference later this week.
The report came less than a month after the struggling company announced the sale of its chemical division to the Development Bank of Japan, saying the unit did not fit with its restructuring plans.
The division, which has several thousand employees, accounts for only a small fraction of Sony sales, but the move was widely seen as the first of many changes aimed at reshaping the company.
Industry analysts have said Sony must usher in major reforms amid fierce overseas competition and continuing losses at its mainstay television business. It still generates substantial profits from electronics parts.
Sony has blamed tough competition, falling prices, slow demand, the impact of severe flooding in Thailand last year, and the high yen for its weak balance sheet.
Credit rating agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's both downgraded Sony earlier this year, citing its struggle with the TV operation, among other factors.
During an earlier restructuring announced in December 2008 amid the global financial crisis, Sony cut about 16,000 jobs worldwide.