Troubled electronics giant Sony, in a move to restructure its mobile phones division has decided to move its headquarters from Lund, Sweden to Tokyo, Japan. The move comes barely months after the company split from Swedish Telecoms giant Ericsson. This led to the dissolution of the “Sony Ericsson” brand. Sony continues to make phones under the Sony brand.
The decision to move the headquarters to Tokyo would also result in reduction of 15 percent of its staff from Sweden. this translates to about 1000 employees who would be left without employment. The Layoffs will however be done in a phased manner and it would only be until 2014 that the last of the employee would be asked to look for alternate employment. Sony plans to complete the move from Lund to Tokyo by October this year. Sony has however confirmed that the facility at Lund would not be closed and that it would remain a development hub for the company.
Sony claims that this move would enable the company to “increase operational efficiency, reduce costs and drive profitable growth.” The company has already contacted Swedish officials and have informed them that as many as 650 employees would be affected immediately by this move. The rest of the effected lot would be the consultants that the company had employed in Sweden.
Sony is weathering one of the most difficult times since its existence, with it declaring a net loss of over USD 6.4 billion for the full year that ended March 31, 2012. The company has also seen lots of changes in its senior management with the appointment of a new President, Kazuo Hirai.
