Sony To Cut 5,000 Jobs, Split Off PC, TV Operations

Sony Corp, under pressure to shore up profitability in its electronics business, unveiled a restructuring plan on Thursday that will cut 5,000 jobs and trim 100 billion yen ($988 million) a year from fixed costs, while splitting off its loss-making PC and TV units.

The PC division, as widely expected, will be sold to investment fund Japan Industrial Partners, which will set up a separate company to take over the operations.

Sony will initially hold a 5 percent stake in that company.

Sony also said it will split its TV division off into a separate company by July 2014.

The job cuts, which will include its TV and PC divisions, are to be implemented by March 2015, while the cost savings are to kick in by the following 2015/16 financial year.

REUTERS