Sony to Cut 10,000 Jobs Over Next Year

Sony Corp. will cut about 10,000 jobs worldwide over the next year as it tries to overcome shrinking LCD TV sales and return to profit, according to an article in the Nikkei business daily Monday. The cuts would reduce its workforce by 6%.

Sony spokeswoman Yoko Yasukouchi wouldn’t confirm the reports pending a Thursday press conference to be given by new Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai.

Restructuring measures recently announced by Sony include merging its LCD panel manufacturing operations with Toshiba and Hitachi and selling its chemical unit. Those changes alone could impact up to 5,000 employees who may be subject to transfers or layoffs, according to Yasukouchi.

Earlier this year Sony had posted 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.

During the past decade Sony’s consumer electronics and semiconductor business has been hurt most by aggressive competition from more cost-efficient and innovative S. Korean rivals Samsung and LG. Sony appears also to have become distracted by its expansion into the global movie and entertainment business with its purchase of Columbia-Tri-Star in 1989. On February 1, 2012 Sony announced that former CEO and president Howard Stringer would be replaced by Hirai.