Sony to slash 10,000 jobs

TOKYO - Sony Corp, the world's second-biggest consumer electronics maker, will cut 10,000 jobs and the number of product models by 20 per cent to help end losses at its electronics business, chief executive Howard Stringer says.

Sony will reduce its Japanese workforce by 4000 and by 6000 overseas.

The Tokyo-based company, which has about 151,400 employees globally, also said it would shut 11 factories, bringing the number of plants worldwide to 54. Sony expects to trim costs by 200 billion ($2.6 billion) through its restructuring plan.

The company's stock rose 7 per cent this month as investors bet Stringer's position as an outsider, running the media business before becoming Sony's first foreign CEO, will help him make greater changes than predecessors. Stringer is an ex-CBS executive born in Wales who holds dual US and British citizenship.

Sony has lost market share in industries it once dominated to Matsushita Electric's Viera plasma TVs and Apple Computer's iPod portable music player.

"Anyone can announce a plan, the real challenge is implementing it," said Taiji Yoshida at Yasuda Asset Management. "Stringer is coming from the outside, and he only spends part of his time in Japan, so he may be able to do what other Japanese managers were not able to do."

Sony now expects a net loss of 10 billion this fiscal year, after saying on July 28 that it would have a profit of 10 billion. The company reported a 163.8 billion profit in the last fiscal year on sales of 7.16 trillion.

Shares of Sony fell 2.2 per cent to 3940 on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The announcement came after the market shut.

Stringer's predecessor Nobuyuki Idei stepped down earlier this year amid shareholder discontent after failing to meet plans set forth in his Transformation-60 business plan announced in October 2003.

Idei, who took office in June 1999, saw Sony's stock price triple to a record 16,300 in March 2000, only to watch it lose almost three-quarters of its value and be overtaken by Samsung Electronics and Matsushita Electric in terms of market value.

- BLOOMBERG