Sony Announces Restructure of PC, TV-Set Businesses

TOKYO: Projecting a 110 billion yen ($1.1 billion) loss for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2014, Sony has announced plans to cut 5,000 positions, sell its PC unit and spin off its TV-set operation as a separate wholly-owned subsidiary.

The news came as the company announced its Q3 results, reporting higher revenues of 2.4 trillion yen ($23 billion) and a net income of 27 billion yen ($257 million), as compared with a 10.8 billion yen loss in the year-ago period.

At Sony Pictures Entertainment, there was a 7 percent improvement in revenues to 223.7 billion yen ($2.1 billion) due to a favorable impact of the depreciation of the yen against the U.S. dollar, the company said. On a U.S. dollar basis, theatrical and home-entertainment revenues were down, but TV production revenues gained thanks largely to home-entertainment and SVOD income from Breaking Bad.

The 5,000 headcount reduction is due to be complete by the end of fiscal 2014, with 1,500 cuts in Japan and 3,500 internationally.