Sony Japan Laying Off 2,000 Employees - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 19 October 2012 / 13,496 Views
Sony announced today they will be laying off 2,000 employees in Japan via "early retirement," according to The Next Web. The layoffs are expected to hit the PlayStation manufacturer's head office the hardest. 20 percent of the employees will be laid off by the end of the year. The lay off is going to save the company $378 million annually starting in 2013.
This layoff is in line with the plan that was laid out earlier this year when the company announced that it would layoff 10,000 employees, which includes 3,000 to 4,000 in Japan. The restructuring program is expected to cost $945 million.
The restructuring program includes more than just slashing budgets and laying off employees. Sony spent $644 million on Olympus, that will combine the companies camera technologies, as well as focusing on the medical imaging industry.
Sony's gaming division has also been affected by the restructuring. Sony has closed in Liverpool studio in the UK, as well as Zipper Interactive and BigBig Studios.
Sony had also sold off its chemical productions business in June for $730 million. The company in August announced that it would lay off 1,000 jobs from its handset division, which is being relocated to Japan from Sweden.
Sony in its most recent financial report posted a loss of $310 million, which is an increase from $195.3 million during the same period the year before.
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B-b-but the PS3 outsells the 360 weekly. That's all that matters, right???
Yes, that is all that matter ON VGCHARTZ.
Sony's gaming division hasn't seen much change. The few studios they have closed down are underperforming. Quality over quanity.
Well it's not like Sony Japan is doing anything anyways..
And you would know because ... ?
perhaps he had been working there but is now "early retired" :D
Best luck to all those who lost their jobs
Glad to hear they are actually DOING SOMETHING and not just praying things get better.
About time to be honest. All what they are doing now should have been done years ago
Allow me to cut through the bullshit. Sony is contracting, and that means moving forward the company will have less money to leverage into gaming. This will lead to more conservative hardware, and fewer first party titles. Bottom line it matters a whole fucking lot no matter how you spin it.
Pretty sad. But if this saves >$300M and with their other cost-cutting hopefully they will return to profitability next year. Next year is going to be pretty big for sony gaming-wise.
@Darth- No the argument switches to profits when it's convenient. Like when the PS3 started to do well.
Its much more than that ganon. They were making an average of 90$ an hour.
Let's not forget to add that Sony Optiarc is shutting down its operation end of this fiscal year.
what are they responsible for? I've not heard of that area at all.
Damn, things aren't going too well for SONY... Kinda sad
Things are just getting worse and worse. I'm not exactly sure where it all started.
Samsung and LG cannibalizing T.V. sales. That and mismanagement of all divisions.
It started with hubris. It always starts with hubris ...
Darkknightkryta there pretty much got the nail on the head, I remember a time when 80% of tvs in stores where Sony brand now the portion of floor in stores for sony is tiny in comparison where as you can't move without falling over a Lifes Good Tv and I'll be honest some of the samsung models are just beautiful in clarity.
This company is doomed
I more read this as it's a company with issues shedding some fat, they're not in the best of positions sure, but Sony is still worth billions.
so these people being let off had an average weekly salary of $910 based on the money they will save annually or I wonder are Sony including other things in that such as not needing to keep some offices open altogether since they wont have workers there? Either way that is a fairly large chunk of people to let go, never good news. Kinda bad too that their restructure will cost them close to a billion dollars but this move will save them 300m annually they predict... so it's going to be over 3 years before any benefit from this is seen money wise.
aye of course that is why I said that if you don't have 2000 people to look after you save a lot of money in Human resource management and even just things as basic as toilet facilities for 2000 people can cost 1000s and 1000s of dollars but still, this will cost them money to save money is all I was saying.
ohh sony... i feel shame for them, too much egocentrism 7 year ago leave them in this situation.
Sony, there is no limit to their arrogance, and they truly deserve all this shit for abandoned the market of Japan...
Sony have far from abandoned that market, just look at the charts of new games flowing out for the psp and ps3 over there. I'm so jealous when I see some of the games our Japanese cousins get.
