Sony plans to lay off 8,000 workers in its electronics business worldwide as part of a broader plan to trim expenses and tighten its focus in a difficult financial climate, the company said Tuesday.
The Japanese electronics and media giant, which currently has a full-time global workforce of 160,000, joins a long list of tech companies that have cut jobs and scaled back production.
The company will also eliminate a number of contract workers and temporary employees, which would total an additional 8,000 jobs, according to Reuters.
In addition to the job reductions, Sony plans to curtail or delay some of its investment plans. The company will also downsize or withdraw from unprofitable or non-core businesses. The cuts should account for a total annual cost savings of more than 100 billion yen (US$1.08 billion) by the end of the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010.
The company is outsourcing a portion of its planned increase in manufacturing of complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) image sensors for use in mobile phones. Additionally, it is postponing plans to invest in production expansion at its liquid crystal display, or LCD, television assembly plant in Slovakia.
Sony's goals are to reduce investment in the electronics business by about 30 percent in the coming fiscal year and to reduce the total number of manufacturing sites by about 10 percent, from the current total of 57.
This article first appeared as a blog on CNET News.com.
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