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Sony announces huge round of layoffs as it breaks off TV business, dumps PCs

Published Feb 6th, 2014 7:25AM EST
Sony Layoffs 2014

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The good news it that the rumors were true: Sony announced on Thursday that it has managed to offload its floundering PC business and the Vaio brand to Japan Industrial Partners, and the deal will close by the end of March. The awful news, however, is that word of the deal comes alongside the announcement that Sony plans to lay off 5,000 workers by March 2015, which marks the end of the company’s fiscal year.

Sony also said on Thursday that it will spin off its TV business into a separate subsidiary by July of this year, and the aforementioned layoffs will span across both the TV division and the company’s PC business. The company will retain a 5% in the PC business following the sale to JIP.

Sony’s mobile arm saw sales increase during the holiday quarter but the company now forecasts a massive full-year loss of about $1.1 billion.

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.