TOKYO — Sony, the Japanese electronics maker that has forecast a fourth straight annual loss, will slash about 10,000 jobs, or 6 percent of its workforce, the Nikkei newspaper reported on its website.
As many as 5,000 job cuts will come from reorganizing businesses making chemicals and small- and medium-sized panels, the Nikkei reported. Sony spokesman George Boyd declined to comment when contacted by phone.
Chief executive Kazuo Hirai, 51, who took the helm this month from Howard Stringer, has vowed “painful” steps to turn around Sony as consumers flock to devices from Samsung and Apple. Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s have both downgraded Sony, which in February more than doubled its annual loss forecast.
“The job cuts are just a temporary fix for Sony,” said Mitsuo Shimizu, a Tokyo-based analyst at Cosmo Securities. “This wouldn’t help address the company’s real problems, like the slumping TV business.”
