Thousands of jobs to go in Sony strategy shift

Sony has officially announced its rumoured intention to lay off around 10,000 workers, as part of a major reorganisation that is intended to turn around the ailing company's fortunes.

The company, which said two days ago that it expected to have lost $6.4bn (£4bn) in the latest financial year, revealed the cuts on Thursday as it spelled out its 'One Sony' strategy. According to the BBC, 450 jobs may be at risk at a Sony manufacturing plant in Wales.

Sony has confirmed it is to shed 10,000 jobs worldwide. Image credit: Alex Kidman/CNET Australia

"Sony is reinforcing its development of image sensors, signal processing technologies, lenses and other key digital imaging technologies in which it excels, and plans to leverage these technologies in both its consumer products… and broadcast and professional products… in order to further strengthen and differentiate Sony's overall product line," the company said in a statement.

Sony also said that it was intent on turning around its struggling TV business by improving design engineering efficiency, cutting the number of models it churns out, and moving onto new display technologies such as OLED and 'Crystal LED Display'.

The other key parts of Sony's new strategy are to push into emerging markets — the company defines anything outside Japan, North America and Europe as 'emerging' — and boost its presence in the medical equipment and super-high-resolution 4K video markets.

The parts of Sony's business that are being or will be sold off include small-and medium-sized displays, chemical products, electronic vehicle batteries and energy storage modules.

Sony's new chief executive, Kazuo Hirai, took the reins at the start of April. Hirai has always been clear about his priorities, which are strongly reflected in the 'One Sony' strategy.

In its statement on Thursday, Sony said the measures detailed in that strategy should boost sales and margins.