10,000 More Layoffs Coming, Panasonic Says

That Panasonic's mobile division was going to retire from Europe altogether was already enough of a hint that the company was doing poorly. We now have another piece of evidence.

Just like the revelation about how AMD has hired a bank to look for business choices (maybe even a sellout), the report about Panasonic's continued problems was made through Reuters and is none too promising.

Panasonic was founded back in 1918 and has since been the figurehead of Japan's consumer electronics industry.

Unfortunately, the company has posted only net losses over the past five years. This has led to business sacrifices, most notably job cuts.

Just in 2011 (last year), the company laid off 36,000 employees. More recently, the company's mobile division decided to back out of Europe altogether.

The poor economy on the old continent is just one of several problems though. Panasonic is faced with the global economic downturn, as well as the rise of Korean and Chinese companies, and brands from other Asian countries too.

Better quality may not always be part of their advantages, but those new companies do have more desirable goods and generally lower prices.

Now, expecting losses of $10 billion for the full year (2012), or 7.85 billion Euro, Panasonic is thinking of firing 10,000 more people. It won't be enough to remove it as Japan's top employer, but the sale of some business divisions may cover the difference.

By that we mean to say that, out of Panasonic's 100 business units, about 20 are losing money, and some of them will be sold sooner or later, as part of a plan to reach operating profits of $2.52 billion / 1.97 billion Euro in the next three years.

Then again, with Sharp and Sony also firing people, the danger of losing that position of prominence might not be so great after all.