Sony to close TV plant, shed 2,000 jobs: Report

TOKYO: Sony Corp plans to close one of its two television plants in Japan and shed more than 2,000 domestic full-time jobs as part of efforts to revive its electronics business, a report said on Thursday.

Sony, a bellwether of corporate Japan, has ditched non-core assets and axed thousands of jobs in recent years. Last month it announced 16,000 more job cuts worldwide along with factory closures while details are to be worked out.

The planned action in Japan is part of the restructuring scheme announced in December, the Nikkei business daily said.

Sony aims to cut about three percent, or more than 2,000 jobs, of its full-time workforce through early retirement and other programmes, it said.

Chief executive officer Howard Stringer will announce the measures to be taken in the domestic electronics business on Thursday, the daily said.

A Sony spokeswoman said the company was considering "integrating domestic television production" at one factory but had not decided on the scale of payroll cuts in Japan.

"We will disclose our decision as soon as it is made," she said.

The Nikkei said Stringer would also release Thursday downward revisions in the group's earnings outlook for the current business year to March.

Sony is set to post its first annual operating loss in 14 years because of a slump in demand and a strong yen, it said.

The loss would exceed 100 billion yen (1.2 billion dollars) in a dramatic turnaround from a revised operating profit of 475.2 billion yen last year, it said.

Before the economic crisis erupted, the electronics icon had been recovering from a difficult spell in the face of tough competition from rival products such as Apple's iPod and Nintendo's Wii.