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TagsBY BOB HOLT
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
After adding in deferred tax credits, losses at Japan's Sony Corp during the company’s fourth straight year in the red were found to be twice what had been predicted earlier.
Reuters reported that Sony suffered a record $6.4 billion net loss. New CEO Kazuo Hirai says he is prepared to take "painful steps" to bring the company back.
The Wall Street Journal reported that those steps include reducing the company’s global workforce by about 10,000 jobs. The cuts are expected to take place over the next two fiscal years until March 2014.
A large part of Sony’s problems have come in its television division, where the company is expected to lose money for the eighth year in a row. Hirai was a deputy president in charge of Sony’s TV division last year, and cut the company’s goal to sell 40 million televisions a year in half.
Sony also plans to sell its chemical unit and merge its LCD paneling with Toshiba and Hitachi. Forbes reported that it was not known how Sony’s moves would affect the production of its upcoming Playstation 4, expected in late 2012.
Many analysts believe Hirai can renew Sony’s fortunes, saying he knows how to integrate the company’s divisions. One of his main concepts is to merge Sony’s entertainment lineup with its electronic brands to increase sales. Sony’s top artists are singers Kelly Clarkson and Michael Jackson, along with the "Spider-Man" and "Men in Black" movies.
New Jersey has already felt the sting of Sony’s sales decline. CBS Philly reported that Sony DADC closed its 73-acre manufacturing plant in Pitman in 2011, putting about 300 people out of work.
From a consumer point of view, Sony is not popular either - evident by the sliding sales in just about every product category. It is not a case that Sony has not spent enough marketing $. It is not a case that their products are not shiny enough. It is not a case that Sony is selling the wrong type of products. So what is the problem?
People want products that integrate into their home and work environments that are usually made up of a mixture of technologies and brands and Sony being so proprietary and restricted just does not fit in. It does not fit in so it is being left out. No one needs Sony.