Sony"s new chief-executive, Howard Stringer, has announced that 10,000 jobs are being cut in a 2 billion dollar restructuring plan. In the past years Sony"s electronics haven"t faired very well.
Sony has always been a pioneer in electronics but in recent years has taken some stiff competition from Sharp and Panasonic in home theater electronics sales. Sony is also having a hard time competing with the iPod and the iTunes Music Store, which has recently become a huge competitor in Japan.
The restructuring, to be put in place by the end of fiscal 2007, would end in a reduction of 4,000 workers in Japan and 6,000 elsewhere, while factories would be cut from the present 65 to 54, company officials said.
Over the last few years, Sony"s stock has lost two-thirds of its value.