Sony is expected to post its first annual loss in 14 years and is cutting more than 2,000 full-time jobs and closing one of its two Japanese TV plants in Aichi Prefecture, in western Japan, according to Japanese business newspaper Nikkei.
Sony CEO Howard Stringer is expected to announce the cits amd plant closing at a news conference Thursday, according to the newspaper.
The move is expected to help Sony revive its struggling electronics business, which is believed to be at the core of the company’s financial problems. As of 2006, Sony operated 13 plants in Japan. In the same year, Sony closed a portable music-player factory.
Sony has not been immune from the global recession. In October, the company had a full-year operating profit of 200 billion yen (US$2.2 billion), but poor holiday sales and lowered consumer spending on electronics pushed sales down.
Closures Expected
Cuts and plant closures were expected, though not in Japan. Late last year, Sony said it had seen a drop in sales of LCD televisions that forced the company to cut up to 16,000 jobs and scale back investments in its electronics business by 30 percent in the fiscal year ending March 2010.
In December, Sony also said it would close at least five of its 57 manufacturing plants in order to save the company 92.5 billion yen (US$27.9 million).
The maker of Bravia LCD TVs and Cybershot cameras as well as the popular PlayStation game consoles also disclosed that it would stop production at two overseas manufacturing sites, including the Sony Dax Technology Center in France; push manufacturing to low-cost areas; and use OEM partners. And it doesn’t end there.
Sony postponed expansion at its Nitra plant in Slovakia, one of its LCD television-assembling sites.
Restructuring has been part of Sony’s way of business since 2003, when the…