Panasonic Announces 17,000 Job Cuts

News
By Jane McEntegart
published

Panasonic has announced a decision to cut 17,000 of its employees.

Japanese consumer electronics giant Panasonic has said it will cut five percent of its workforce as part of efforts to restructure and streamline the company and recover losses from Japan’s March 11 earthquake. The cuts, expected to take up to two years to complete, will reduce the company’s numbers to 350,000. Currently, Panasonic’s headcount is just shy of 367,000 people. Also on the cards is the closure of up to 20 percent of Panasonic’s manufacturing facilities.

The Financial Times cites Panasonic as saying it has set aside Y110bn in restructuring costs for the current financial year, while the cuts will cost the company about Y160bn ($2bn) between now and 2013. However, the restructuring could add Y6bn to this year’s fiscal operating profit and a whopping T60bn to next year’s.

According to the Associated Press, Japan’s disastrous March events cost Panasonic’s operating profit for the year ended March 31 21 billion yen ($258 million).

Jane McEntegart
12 Comments Comment from the forums
  • NuclearShadow
    Ouch, that is quite the bad news and certainly Panasonic isn't the only one that is going to do some layoffs. I do hope that things work out and those jobs become open once again in the future.
    Reply
  • bit_user
    That's a shame and I hope it doesn't affect their products' quality. Panasonic has always been my favorite brand for A/V equipment. Whether it's plasma TVs or DVD players, they've never let me down. Consistently some of the best products, without the premium price of Sony.
    Reply
  • vk_87
    Already because of the quake, people would have lost quite a lot of stuff, now they find that they might also lose their jobs. Great....
    Reply
  • back_by_demand
    4.6% of the workforce, over 2 years.
    A lot of this could be absorbed with a recruitment freeze, natural attrition, voluntary redundancy, etc.
    17000 sounds a lot, but compared to the total workforce it's not that much.
    Very few will be canned involuntarily.
    Reply
  • jrtolson
    i thought panasonic was a sub branded devision of matshuita? same as kenwood? and there are not many kenwood branded stereo's on the market these days.. if any
    Reply
  • wiyosaya
    jrtolsoni thought panasonic was a sub branded devision of matshuita? same as kenwood? and there are not many kenwood branded stereo's on the market these days.. if anyIIRC, Matsushita renamed itself, "Panasonic" a few years back due to brand recognition.
    Reply
  • cookoy
    what is more worrying is the possible closure of up to 20% of their manufacturing facilities
    Reply
  • eddieroolz
    This isn't good news at all. Japan is already in midst of a 20-year employment freeze...this is going to have a negative impact everywhere.
    Reply
  • neiroatopelcc
    I wonder if those people find new jobs anywhere on their islands?
    Reply
  • bin1127
    neiroatopelccI wonder if those people find new jobs anywhere on their islands?
    I think they are talking about worldwide reduction. Overseas they have less people, but I don't think they need 350k just in japan. Asian manufacturing everywhere probably makes up a lot of it.
    Reply