Sony to cut 8,000 jobs, shut plants
TOKYO– Sony Corp. is slashing 4 per cent of its worldwide workforce, reining in spending and shutting plants as it tries to ride out a looming worldwide recession that is battering Japan’s export-reliant manufacturers.
Tokyo-based Sony, which is cutting 8,000 of its 185,000 jobs, said yesterday it will shut five or six plants – about 10 per cent of its 57 factories.
Sony also plans to reduce its electronics investments by about one-third by the end of March 2010, although it did not give specific numbers. Sony will also cut at least 8,000 temporary jobs.
The job cuts are the most drastic here since the U compare car insurance prices.S. credit crunch hit over the summer.
Sony has been recovering from internal problems in recent years under cost-cutting reforms led by chief executive Howard Stringer.
Sony said the moves will deliver $1 billion (U.S.) in savings a year by March 2010.
As well, Sony will trim spending in semiconductors and will outsource output planned for image sensors for mobile phones.
Associated Press