Sony slashing 16,000 jobs amid global downturn
TOKYO -- Sony is slashing 8,000 jobs, or 4% of its global work force, and another 8,000 temporary and contract jobs in an effort to cut costs by $1.1 billion a year as an economic downturn and a stronger yen batter profits at the Japanese electronics maker.
Sony Corp., which has 185,000 employees worldwide, said Tuesday it will complete the job cuts — all in the electronics sector — by the end of March 2010. Temporary workers are not counted in Sony's global work force.
The company will close several plants, including one in Dax, France, cut investment in electronics and outsource some work. The moves will deliver more than 100 billion yen ($1.1 billion) in savings a year by March 2010, the company said.
The global financial crisis is hitting the U.S., European, Japanese and emerging nations' economies, Hara said.
"Now we are all facing a recession together," he said. "It is impossible to predict how much longer the situation will last."
Sony's announcement comes amid similar news from other Japanese manufacturers, which face plunging demand at home and abroad, as well as falling gadget prices and currency fluctuations. But Sony's job cuts are Japan's biggest since the U.S. credit crunch hit over the summer.
Kazuharu Miura, electronics analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research in Tokyo, warned that the measures may not be enough to offset the damage from sliding profits.
"The entire high-tech market is being seriously hurt," Miura said. "Japanese companies are all in trouble because of this unexpected worldwide slowdown."
Sony — maker of the Walkman portable player and PlayStation 3 game console — is particularly vulnerable to the strong yen since about 80% of its sales come from overseas. The dollar has dropped to about 93 yen from 117 yen last year, eroding with it Sony's foreign income.
Hara said the ways the job cuts will be carried out will vary by country, but he did not provide a breakdown. Sony's electronics business employs about 160,000 workers. The company also has movie, video game and financial businesses.
