Sony to cut 10,000 jobs in major reorganisation

Kazuo Hirai took over as chief executive earlier this year

Electronics giant Sony is to cut 10,000 jobs as part of a major reorganisation, chief executive Kazuo Hirai has said.

The cuts, which represent 6% of the global workforce, will be made over the next 12 months.
The reduction includes staff working in businesses that are being sold, such as its flat-screen display joint venture.
Sony has been struggling to compete in the television business with South Korea's Samsung and LG, while Apple has challenged it in audio gear and phones.
On Tuesday, Sony forecasted a record annual loss of $6.4bn, double its previous estimate.
Seeking value Sony says it will focus its business on three areas - digital imaging, games consoles and mobile devices.
It hopes the changes will help to generate sales of $10.5bn by the financial year ending in March 2015, with a profit margin of 5%.
In the last financial year, Sony reported sales of $7.9bn.
In a press release, the company said: "By implementing a rapid decision-making approach that draws on the strengths of the entire Sony Group as "One Sony", Sony aims to revitalize and grow the electronics business to generate new value."
The reorganisation will cost Sony $926m (£581m) during the current financial year.
Sony's television business has lost money for the past eight years. Analysts say that while it sells about 20 million TV sets a year, it is still not big enough to be profitable.
To tackle that problem Sony is reducing the number of models it makes by 40% by 2013.
Rival Japanese TV maker Sharp is also forecasting hefty losses. It expects an annual loss of $4.7bn this year.