Sony to abolish "several major divisions" (CVG 5/1/09)

Sony's on the brink of radically restructuring core elements of its worldwide operations.


Company sources have told The Times that Sony's preparing itself for a series of "sacred cow-slaying" measures, with job cuts likely, as well as changes to management and manufacturing processes.

Interestingly, the report says that "factory closures and the abolition of several major divisions" are expected to be announced next month, with the company's Japanese arm set to be hit the hardest.

Which of the company's divisions are on the chopping block is unclear at the moment, but it definitely sounds like something big could be about to go down.

While Sony's hopeful its gaming unit can break even this fiscal year, the fact that it's still making a loss on every PS3 sold can't bode well for the PlayStation division.

Late last year Sony announced plans to axe thousands of jobs, but said at the time that the cutbacks wouldn't affect its gaming business.

We wonder if that'll still be the case if this latest report turns out to be accurate.