Panasonic Plans to Let Go of 17,000 Workers

Even though some IT players are doing better than ever, Panasonic is one of those that are not, to the point that, as revealed by certain reports, it intends to reduce its workforce by the thousands.

The past quarter most definitely left some companies with grins of glee, while others were forced to acknowledge difficulties, even in some of their oldest business outlets.

Intel was one of the best performing, whereas AMD, while not overly astounding in its finances, also made some profit.

Meanwhile, Panasonic was a bit seriously hit by the earthquake which shook Japan on March 11, taking a toll on its TV business.

In fact, the first quarter of 2011 ended on an unfavorable note, with losses of ¥40.7 billion, which corresponds to $499 million.

Granted, the earthquake wasn't the main cause, since its effects will only be felt over the next few months, especially from June onwards.

What really got Panasonic in a tighter spot than is comfortable was the restructuring cost of ¥61 billion ($748 million).

Couple that with a strong Yen and increasingly strong competition in sales of televisions and Panasonic decided it had to take drastic measures.

Apparently, said drastic measures will take the form of employee layoffs, the number differing according to reports.

Fortunately, after the figures 40,000 and 35,000 were thrown about, the exact number of job cuts was provided, that being of 17,000.

While not nearly as many as originally feared, the fact remains that thousands will have to find new employment as the layoffs are done, over the next two years. The layoffs will start this year and will most likely affect employees outside Japan, for the most part anyway.

"There is so much left for us to tackle," said President Fumio Ohtsubo from Osaka headquarters via a satellite feed in Tokyo. "We hope to revive our TV business."