Sharp to axe 5,000 positions

Electronics firm Sharp will be cutting 5,000 jobs as part of its three-year restructuring plan in efforts to survive.

As reported by The Asahi Shimbun, axed employees will mainly come from China and Malaysia. The number of employees at Sharp's main office in Osaka will be reduced by 50 percent. Sharp's director numbers will also be cut from 12 to six, and the firm will employ "significantly fewer advisers" who were once presidents or vice presidents of the electronics firm.

Sharp currently employs 51,000 people worldwide.

The midterm management plan, obtained by the publication, also says that tactics employed to recover from the recession and poor consumer demand include shifting business strategy. Sharp will focus on smaller liquid-crystal display panels which are suitable for tablets and smartphones, reflecting the shift in consumer purchase patterns and hopefully allowing the company to boost its profit margins. However, the company does plan to increase production of its 4K panels for large UHD television sets.

Sharp is jointly developing power-conserving screens with Qualcomm, in return for a $120 million investment. However, Sharp was in danger of losing half of the U.S. chip maker's investment after failing to reach fabrication deadlines.

The management plan is expected to be released on May 14. Sharp predicts that annual sales will exceed $30 billion, and in the 2015 fiscal year, the electronics firm hopes to secure a net profit of 100 billion yen -- despite its current financial straits. A net loss beyond 500 billion yen is expected to be reported for the 2012 fiscal year.

In an effort to survive and pay back $2.14 billion in convertible debt this September, the ailing electronics firm will try to raise 100 billion yen ($1.07 billion) through a public stock offering.