Sony To Cut Electronics Workforce By 8,000

Sony (SNE) early Tuesday announced plans to cut headcount in its electronics business by 8,000, or about 5% of the unit’s 160,000 employees. Sony said it intends to save 100 billion yen a year by the end of the March 2010 fiscal year. Sony also said it will cut planned investment spending in part by outsourcing a portion of its planned increase in manufacturing of CMOS image sensors for use in mobile phones to third parties. The company also said it has postponed plans to invest in a production expansion at an LCD assembly plant in Slovakia. Overall, the company is cutting planned investment in the electronics business for the March 2010 fiscal year by 30%. Sony said it will cut the number of manufacturing sites it operates by about 10% by March 31, 2010. The company will cease production at two facilities by the end of the year, including its Sony Dax Technology Center in France. (link)