The Japanese consumer electronics firm is slashing costs in an effort to halt huge losses that have plagued it in recent years. Sony's TV business alone accounts for $12 billion in losses over the past nine years. The company is planning to cut 6 percent of its workforce - about 10,000 jobs - in a bid to turn the TV unit around.
Shares of Sony Corp (valued at around $15 billion) have hit a quarter-century low. Hirai is determined to change the fortunes of the PlayStation-maker, with the firm reporting a record loss of $5.74 billion in the year just ended.
The company is to focus more efforts on smartphones and other mobile devices, its games division, advanced medical devices and batteries for electric cars. It expects to sell 33 million smartphones this year (compared to 22.5 million last year), but predicts an 11 percent decline in PlayStation sales, to 16 million units.
In the year to March 2013, Sony expects an operating profit of 180 billion yen.
"The operating profit forecast isn't far off the level seen two years ago ... This suggests we're on a recovery trend and last year was definitely the bottom," said Kenichi Hirano, operating officer at Tachibana Securities in Tokyo.
"But I think not everyone in the market is convinced of this, especially since the company lacks a solid plan to turn around its TV business."
Written by: James Delahunty @ 10 May 2012 13:05
