Panasonic to Cut 17,000 Jobs

Panasonic to shed 17,000 jobs in cost-cutting drive

Cuts by Japanese electronics company come on top of nearly 18,000 job losses in past business year.

Panasonic, the biggest Japanese maker of consumer electronics, announced a major reorganization Thursday under which it will cut thousands of jobs as it adapts its business to a changing global environment and absorbs recent acquisitions.

It will streamline operations along three main lines, down from five, and said it would cut about 17,000 jobs over the next two years from its work force of 367,000, which is already down from the 385,000 people it employed at the end of March 2010. The reorganization will cost about ¥160 billion, or $2 billion, the chief executive of Panasonic, Fumio Ohtsubo, said in Osaka, where the company is based.

The company, formerly known as Matsushita Electric Industrial, is restructuring to compete with South Korean and Chinese rivals in an industry that is increasingly focusing on emerging markets. It is also eliminating redundancies caused by its acquisitions of Sanyo Electric and Panasonic Electric Works, which were completed this year.

Those job cuts add to the closure of 70 factories around the world over the next two years as it tries to reduce costs and keep up with its cheaper Korean and Chinese competitors. The Japanese consumer electronics company, whose products include Viera televisions and Lumix cameras, said that it was aiming to trim its workforce of 367,000 to 350,000 by March 2013. The reduction comes on top of nearly 18,000 job cuts in the past business year, making a total of 35,000 over three years. Panasonic has about 350 manufacturing bases worldwide and employs 500 people in Britain.