Several thousand employees of Sony Group will be made redundant in the course of its crucial reorganization. The management is going to slash 5,000 jobs thus cutting labor costs by ¥100 billion (almost $1 billion). Chief executive Kazuo Hirai is going to sell the unprofitable PC business and to split the troubled television division into a separate unit. Mr. Hirai described the agreement to sell the PC unit to the investment fund Japan Industrial Partners. Besides, he specified it planned to keep a 5 percent stake in the new PC company to be formed from the sale. The activities to streamline the corporation will affect mainly residents from Nagano Prefecture as the PC manufacturing facilities are situated exactly there. The corporation has to terminate its production at several China’s factories. The television business will be set up as a subsidiary. In the meantime, 5,000 employees have been warned of dismissal. The reorganization formalities are to be completed in March 2015. The market showed a positive response to the official statement. Thus, Sony’s shares jumped 1.5% to ¥1,624 a piece on Tokyo stock exchange. For your reference, in late January Moody’s downgraded Sony’s credit rating to the junk Ba1 level with a negative outlook. Analysts noted that Sony’s future is quite bleak amid the tough competition in this particular market sector. Revenues from smartphones and cameras sales are also under threat of failure due to rivals’ efforts. Last year was logged as lossmaking in the corporation history. In November, its shares slumped 11% just in one day which cost the company $2.2 billion. Japan’s electronics giant was founded in 1946; it has been one of the leading manufacturers of electronic products in the world. In addition, such popular brands as VAIO, Bravia, and Walkman are developed by Sony Group.
