It’s not been a great year for Japanese electronics giant Sharp, but things are going to take a turn for the worse before they get better, after plans to lay-off 11,000 staff and generate $2.74 billion from asset sales were leaked to Japanese news outlet Kyodo News.
The company, which has already announced its decision to lay off 5,000 employees, submitted plans to various financial institutions notifying them of its restructuring proposals, suggesting that it would cut wages, sell-off its overseas manufacturing plants and offload its subsidiary and shares in Toshiba.
Those plans also include overhauling its LCD TV business, strengthening its LCD panel business for smartphones, and cutting down its solar battery operations.
By selling its assets, Sharp believes it will be able to generate 213.1 billion yen ($2.74 billion) by March 2013, and looks to integrate its four domestic sales businesses no more than a month later.
At the end of August, Sharp announced that it had set aside close to $350 million (27 billion yen) to offer its staff voluntary redundancy packages. Employees looking to leave the company early were given an application deadline of between November 1-14, estimating that 2,000 employees will be given the redundancy terms.
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The retirement date was set for December 15, but it isn’t known if the company will adapt those plans following the release of its new restructuring proposals.
In order to put its plans into action, Sharp will set up an emergency management committee headed by President Takashi Okuda on October 1, focusing on bringing the company back to profitability from April next year.
Image Credit: Kazuhiro Nogi/Getty Images
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