Japan's Sanyo to axe 1,000 jobs

SANYO WILL CUT up to 1,000 jobs as part of an attempt to improve its business before it is snapped up by Panasonic.

Sources inside Sanyo Electric say it is thinking of culling 500 of its 20,000 regular employees in Japan. The jobs will go mostly in its semiconductor division and will happen by the end of March. By the time the company has finished, more than a 1,000 people will have collected their P45s.

The total number of job cuts, including temporary workers, is expected to reach about 1,000, a daily newspaper said, without naming its sources.

Some of the job cuts will be managed through an early retirement programme. It is not clear if more jobs will be lost worldwide.

It seems that the company is acting to please its new Shogun. Panasonic said last month it would acquire Sanyo Electric for up to $9 billion.

Sanyo Electric has seven semiconductor plants overseas, including in China, Vietnam and the Philippines and it is expected to cut this to just two. µ

L'Inq
AP