Sony Corporation, the loss-making Japanese electronics company, will be cutting 1,000 jobs from its mobile phone division.
In a statement released yesterday, Sony Mobile will move its corporate headquarters and certain other functions from Lund, Sweden, to Tokyo, Japan in October 2012.
In relation to the operational structure changes, Sony Mobile plans to reduce its global headcount by approximately 15 percent (approximately 1000 personnel, including consultants) throughout the financial years of 2012 and 2013 (i.e. by the end of March 2014. Sony said it filed a notice with the Swedish authorities that it expects to cut about 650 jobs and dismiss 350 consultants in the country.
The recent move is part of its previously-announced plan to reduce its workforce by 10,000 by March 2013.
According to a research house, Sony had about 4% of the global market for smartphones in the first quarter of 2012, compared with approximately 31% for Samsung and 24% for Apple.
Sony Mobile is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation. In February, Sony paid €1.05 billion ($1.32 billion) to Ericsson to take full control of the 50-50 joint venture in order to increase its focus on smartphones.
