Sony to cut 5,000 jobs under restructuring plan

Under-pressure company will split off loss-making PC and TV units as it faces 110bn yen loss

A logo of Sony Corp’s Vaio is seen as a shopper looks at products at an electronics retail store in Tokyo. Sony is to sell its  loss-making Vaio personal computer division as part of a bid to cut costs. Photograph: Yuya Shino/Reuters
A logo of Sony Corp’s Vaio is seen as a shopper looks at products at an electronics retail store in Tokyo. Sony is to sell its loss-making Vaio personal computer division as part of a bid to cut costs. Photograph: Yuya Shino/Reuters

Sony, under pressure to shore up profitability in its electronics business, unveiled a restructuring plan today that will cut 5,000 jobs and trim 100 billion yen (€729.4 million) a year from fixed costs, while splitting off its loss-making PC and TV units.

The firm today warned it expects a net loss of 110 billion yen this fiscal year.

The PC division, as widely expected, will be sold to investment fund Japan Industrial Partners, which will set up a separate company to take over the operations. Sony will initially hold a 5 per cent stake in that company.

Sony also said it will split its TV division off into a separate company by July 2014.

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The job cuts, which will include its TV and PC divisions, are to be implemented by March 2015, while the cost savings are to kick in by the following 2015/16 financial year.

(Reuters)