Sony to lay off 8,000 full-timers, 8,000 others

Updated at 7:41 a.m. PT to include reductions in temporary and contract workers.

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 noncore businesses. The cuts should account for a total annual cost savings of more than 100 billion yen ($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, or 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.

[vamman]

During this 'crisis' I wish Cnet would do a little bit more than the lazy reporting we are seeing. While this information is usually presented quickly on Cnet there is usually little substance. I'd like to see the source material if at all possible and I'd like to know if Cnet is asking where the majority of layoffs are happening, at what skill level are these people, are the layoffs across the board and include execs? For those stragetic planners in the world, it would be nice to know these facts regarding the larger layoffs.

[Akiba]

If they aren't releasing anymore details then they probably don't have them yet. Thats not lazy. Source? This is being reported everywhere from Bloomberg to local Japanese papers in the same amount of detail based on an announcement that Sony made.

[jhawk95]

According to CNN, Sony is laying of 16,000. Which is it? There is a huge difference between 8,000 and 16,000.

The CNN story DOES say where the layoffs are coming from and how they will be dispersed over the next 16 months and includes both temporary, part-time and permanent full-time workers.

[Akiba]

From what I read, the 8000 is full time workers. Another 8000 are contractors. You know how tech companies like to separate the contractors even if they are doing the same work.

[Renegade Knight]

I wonder why it's always nice round numbers. 8000. Not 7983 or 8142. You would think the perfectly right number to lay off would seldom come out handily rounded to the nearest thousand heads.

Why is it never the opposite. You never see big business accounce "we need to hire 8000 to keep our numbers in line."

[DrollTroll]

lay them all off; serves them right. sony products stink now...must be relying on a-mere-reeking factories.

[mgriebe]

What a horrible thing to say! Those are 16,000 people that have families and mouths to feed. Sony makes great products, I am sorry if you had a bad experience but they treat their employees well. I would be careful what you say because you might lose your job in this recession.

[globalist_agenda]

A lot more companies will fire a lot more people. The Bush recession that began in 2007 will last through 2010 according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7772794.stm

[shallm]

All right we are all in one boat. Who is steering? Who takes steering wells in hand. Why don?t we do it for ourselves? Majority always wins. We need to become majority ? come together and change things as it suits everyone best.
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[shallm]

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[Vegaman_Dan]

I'm always curious by numbers like these. How many of these positions are simply contractors whose contracts expire? Or normal turnover? How many people will Sony be hiring during the same period?

[erpuniversity]

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