Sony loses over $6 billion and likely 10,000 jobs worldwide

Sony announced a US$6.4-billion loss for the year, more than double the earlier forecasts. In a statement Tuesday, Sony confirmed its fourth consecutive year in the red, deepening the gloom in Japan’s battered electronics industry—which has been been hit hard by dwindling TV sales. Sony had earlier posted a US$2.1-billion loss for October to December alone—a year that ended with the company losing 54 per cent of its stock value.

On Monday, Japanese news reports said Sony would be announcing about 10,000 job cuts worldwide. While Sony stopped short of confirming the reports on Tuesday, the company’s new CEO, Kazuo Hirai, is expected to hold a press conference on Thursday to unveil restructuring plans, including the sale of its chemical unit and a merge of its liquid crystal display panel operation with Toshiba and Hitachi. If confirmed, the cuts would represent about six per cent of the total workforce of Sony.

On Tuesday, Sharp, another company in Japan’s electronics industry, added an extra 31 per cent to its expected loss for the year ending in March, now totalling a record loss of $4.7 billion (U.S.).