Sony may be taking some drastic steps in order to stay competitive. Today, Reuters reports, via the Japanese Nikkei newspaper service, that the company plans to lay off 10,000 of its employees worldwide. That number would represent about six percent of Sony"s total workforce.
The report claims that half of those layoffs would come through consolidating the company"s chemical division, along with its small and midsize LCD companies. The report even claims that seven of Sony"s high ranking executives, including its former CEO Howard Stringer, could be asked to return their last bonus checks.
Sony has yet to comment on these reports. However, the company is holding a special event on Thursday where its new CEO Kazuo Hirai is expected to lay out his strategy for getting Sony back on track. In February, Hirai was quoted as saying that Sony could get "in some serious trouble" if there is no effort to make some major changes.
Sony has already predicted that it will generate a loss of $2.7 billion for the company"s fiscal year that just ended on March 31. Hirai will definitely have to do some major changes to get Sony back on track.