Panasonic to cut 15,000 jobs, shut 27 plants
Panasonic Corp. said Wednesday it will slash 15,000 jobs and shut down 27 plants worldwide to cope with plunging demand for its TVs, semiconductors and other electronics products. The world’s largest maker of plasma display TVs also announced a net loss for the October-December quarter and lowered its forecast for the fiscal year through March to a net loss of 380 billion yen ($4.2 billion), its first annual loss in six years.
Panasonic joins a slew of other major Japanese companies, including Sony Corp. and Toshiba Corp., in announcing job cuts and forecasting a full-year loss as the global slowdown batters the world’s second-largest economy. The Osaka-based manufacturer plans to cut the jobs half of which will come in Japan by the end of March 2010. They amount to about 5 percent of its 300,000-strong global work force. Panasonic also will shutter 14 overseas plants and 13 plants in Japan by the end of March to adjust production and cut costs, company spokesman Akira Kadota said.
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