Struggling electronics giant Sony Corp will not pay bonuses to senior executives for the third straight year, the Japanese company said yesterday, as it braces for another disastrous earnings showing.
The move means that company president Kazuo Hirai would not have received any bonuses since he became chief executive officer in 2012, a Sony spokeswoman said.
Several top execs are to follow suit, while dozens of other senior officials — including those in charge of the troubled electronics divisions — are expected to be left out of the bonuses round for the second straight year, she said.
Photo: AFP
“Our top management proposed to return their bonuses and that was accepted in the company’s compensation committee as appropriate,” she said.
Japanese reports said bonuses typically make up between 35 and 50 percent of an executive’s remuneration, with the Nikkei business daily saying the total value of the bonuses not to be paid could be as much as ￥1 billion (US$10 million)
The comments came a day before the firm is due to announce its full-year earnings report.
Sony said earlier this month it would book a ￥130 billion net loss in the fiscal year to March while slashing its operating earnings outlook, blaming costs tied to its exit from the PC business, as the once-mighty company undergoes painful reforms.
The figure is worse than a ￥110 billion net loss forecast just three months ago, when Sony said it would cut 5,000 jobs in its struggling computer and television units.
Sony’s earnings, due today, are expected to offer a depressing comparison with sector stable mates Panasonic Corp and Sharp Corp, both of which have reported profits following on from huge losses the previous year.
Analysts have long urged Sony to follow Panasonic’s lead and ditch televisions, which offer razor-thin margins and fierce competition.
However, a Kyodo news agency report yesterday that the company will suspend the development of organic LED televisions was knocked down by a Sony spokesman, who said: “We have produced business to business products and will keep development of organic LED televisions.”
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has appointed Rose Castanares, executive vice president of TSMC Arizona, as president of the subsidiary, which is responsible for carrying out massive investments by the Taiwanese tech giant in the US state, the company said in a statement yesterday. Castanares will succeed Brian Harrison as president of the Arizona subsidiary on Oct. 1 after the incumbent president steps down from the position with a transfer to the Arizona CEO office to serve as an advisor to TSMC Arizona’s chairman, the statement said. According to TSMC, Harrison is scheduled to retire on Dec. 31. Castanares joined TSMC in
EUROPE ON HOLD: Among a flurry of announcements, Intel said it would postpone new factories in Germany and Poland, but remains committed to its US expansion Intel Corp chief executive officer Pat Gelsinger has landed Amazon.com Inc’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a customer for the company’s manufacturing business, potentially bringing work to new plants under construction in the US and boosting his efforts to turn around the embattled chipmaker. Intel and AWS are to coinvest in a custom semiconductor for artificial intelligence computing — what is known as a fabric chip — in a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar framework,” Intel said in a statement on Monday. The work would rely on Intel’s 18A process, an advanced chipmaking technology. Intel shares rose more than 8 percent in late trading after the
FACTORY SHIFT: While Taiwan produces most of the world’s AI servers, firms are under pressure to move manufacturing amid geopolitical tensions Lenovo Group Ltd (聯想) started building artificial intelligence (AI) servers in India’s south, the latest boon for the rapidly growing country’s push to become a high-tech powerhouse. The company yesterday said it has started making the large, powerful computers in Pondicherry, southeastern India, moving beyond products such as laptops and smartphones. The Chinese company would also build out its facilities in the Bangalore region, including a research lab with a focus on AI. Lenovo’s plans mark another win for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who tries to attract more technology investment into the country. While India’s tense relationship with China has suffered setbacks
RSS