Sony will reportedly slash 10,000 jobs from its global workforce as it struggles with falling TV prices and a weak consumer electronics market.
The company's seven top executives have also agreed to forego their annual bonuses, Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported yesterday.
The announcement marks the second wave of job cuts in three years. In December 2008, Sony revealed plans to shed 16,000 jobs to cut costs during the global financial crisis.
According to the Nikkei Business Daily, the new job cuts were part of an attempt to shake off poor financial results, which Sony has blamed on a shortage of hard disk drives in Thailand, a high yen, weak consumer demand and falling prices.
Earlier this year, Sony reported a 159 billion yen ($A2.1 billion) loss for the October-December quarter, and projected a loss of 220 billion yen ($A2.61 billion) for the 2011 financial year.
Besides the 10,000 job cuts, a further 5000 Sony staff could be affected by the sale of its chemical unit to the Development Bank of Japan, and the merging of its LCD panel operation with Toshiba and Hitachi, the AP reported.
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