Sony sheds 10,000 jobs and 'will have to husband resources'

The Japanese electronics giant, Sony, says it will cut about 10,000 jobs, or 6% of its workforce, as it struggles to tackle big losses.
This week the company doubled an estimate of its expected losses this year to $6.4bn
Pelham Smithers, managing director of Pelham Smithers Associates, told the Today programme's Simon Jack that "Sony has been steadily restructuring for many years, so low hanging fruit situations have probably been eliminated and the company is also struggling on the financial front".
"It is going to have to husband resources as it tries to restructure," he said.
He acknowledged that the UK operation could be vulnerable but said that this country ought to be one of more cost effective places for Sony saying that a lot of job losses will be in manufacturing in Japan where costs are a lot higher because of the strength of the Yen.
He said that it is not the only manufacturer in Japan struggling and the effect on the country "is profound".
He explained that Japan made "a string of mistakes" around the year 2000 by not realising that the West and Asia were integrating software and hardware.
Japan treated the market in the same way as the 1980s and 1990s but now the market is very different, he said. #simonjacktoday #Sony