Japanese financial news outlet Nikkei has reported that executives at Sony may be giving up their bonuses for the year. The news comes as the company’s electronics department has turned in red figures for the third year in a row. President and Chief Executive Office Kaz “Ridge Racer” Hirai was the one who proposed that all executive and corporate officers should give up what amounts to 35-50% of their annual pay. The number of returned bonuses for the 40 or so executives would figure in at a value of 1 billion yen ($9.7 million).
Since E3 in June last year the public has been abuzz with pro-PlayStation sentiment, however Sony’s other ventures have failed to capture public’s imagination. This prompted them to sell off their Vaio laptop business in February to Japan Industrial Partners in wake of an expected $1.1 billion dollar loss; perhaps not surprising given it was the company’s 10th year in the red. And recently we reported that Sony had sold its 4.8 billion yen (approximately $47 million) stake in publishing giant Square Enix. Nikkei also reports that Sony will attempt to curb spending by “pressing ahead with structural reforms that will place a heavy burden on the rank and file […] and personnel cuts at production subsidiaries”. The specifics however, were not divulged.
With E3 looming less than a month away, we have to wonder what Sony’s PlayStation division has hidden up it’s sleeve, and whether the success of the PS4 will even make a mark on getting Sony back into the black.
Shehzaan Abdulla
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