Sony to cut electronics work force by 8,000 jobs
Published: Wed, Dec. 10, 2008 12:30AM
Modified Wed, Dec. 10, 2008 03:26AM
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closeTOKYO -- Sony, the second-biggest consumer-electronics maker, plans to cut 8,000 full-time jobs as consumers curb spending on televisions, game machines and music players amid a global recession.
The reductions represent 5 percent of the electronics work force at Sony, and the company will also cut another 8,000 seasonal and part-time jobs. Sony said it will curtail investments, farm out production and move away from unprofitable businesses by March 2010 to save more than $1.1 billion a year.
The move highlights the severity of the decline in consumer spending at a time when companies typically focus on the peak holiday shopping season.
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Tokyo-based Sony, led by Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer, said that a much larger-than-anticipated deterioration in the economy spurred the measures and that the company may revise its profit targets.
It's the second time Stringer, 66, is turning to job cuts to boost earnings. In 2005, when the company projected its first annual loss in more than a decade, the Welsh-born U.S. citizen announced plans to eliminate 10,000 jobs. The reduction announced Tuesday is the biggest by a Japanese company since the recession began.
Sony said it will give details about the financial effect of the measures in January when it reports fiscal third-quarter results.
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Staff writer Sue Stock; Staff writer Alan M. Wolf
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