Report: Sony to Cut the Fat in February

Widespread Speculation Playstation Division May be Hit Hard

Sony is denying a report out of the Times of London that claims the company will close “major divisions” of its operations and shut down factories in the wake of the global financial crisis.

Reuters cites Sony spokeman Atsuo Omagari as saying “We don’t have any such plan.”

Omagari also told Reuters that Sony has no plans to announce further restructuring.  The company announced a savings plan in its electronics division last month.  That’s meant to cut costs by $1.1 billion.  Sony also laid off 8,000 workers recently.  Both may not be enough to spur company growth.

The Times report states that Sony is facing huge unsold inventories across all major products after the Holiday buying season, and the products that did sell were at a loss to the company.

In the face of the Wii phenomenon and XBOX360 sales that have now, according to Microsoft, topped 28 million, the Playstation 3 is among Sony’s struggles.  The PS3 has all but failed to achieve a substantial market share  Some blogging sites are now speculating that Sony may be ready to severely cut dead weight with the Playstation division, if not abandon it altogether, despite the brand’s powerful establishment up to the PS3′s launch.

Sony is making an appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show, so no news of doom and gloom would be made public until after the convention.  We are treating this as a rumor for now, but it’s something that bears watching closely in the coming weeks.

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