Sony OZ Silent On Further Job And Salary Cuts

Sony Australia boss Carl Rose could be facing both a salary cut and a 40% bonus freeze as the electronics giant gets set to announce massive losses due to tumbling sales of their Bravia LCD TV’s and PS3 gaming consoles.

Earlier this week Rose backed away from discussing the sacking of 32 staff, despite earlier promises by his PR executives that he would comment on issues raised in a 98 word email that announced the termination of sales and marketing personnel in Australia.

His PR minders also refused to elaborate on whether Sony was losing money when it turns to incentives like PS3 and Blu ray giveaways with their Bravia LCD TV’s.

We also wanted to question Rose about the premium pricing Sony is charging for their 200Hz Motion Flow Bravia TV’s which appear to deliver very little in benefits for the bulk of people who watch TV.

Earlier today Sony said it will impose a salary freeze on its full-time workers for one year to cut costs as the electronics giant braces for a massive loss amid a deepening global downturn.

Attempts by ChannelNews and SmartHouse to ascertain whether these cuts will apply in Australia were met by a wall of silence as Sony attempted to spin doctor the sacking of staff in Australia by refusing to return calls.

According to several Japanese newspapers and the US Wall Street Journal the salary freeze will be effective from April, and Sony’s managers with non-board posts will be told that they have to take a 35% to 40% cut in their annual bonuses.
“Our business environment is severe. We’ve decided to take such action as we expect to incur a loss” in the current financial year to March, a Sony Japan executive said.

Hit by plummeting sales of their Bravia flat TVs and PlayStation 3 game consoles Sony is expected to announce losses in excess of $3Billion dollars in coming weeks.
Sony Australia has not ruled out further job cuts in Australia.