Sony Execs To Give Up Bonuses

Around 40 executives of Sony Corp. and its group companies in charge of the mainstay electronics business have decided to give up their bonuses for fiscal 2012 ending March, taking responsibility for poor business performance, company officials said Wednesday.

May 1, 2013

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Around 40 executives of Sony Corp. and its group companies in charge of the mainstay electronics business have decided to give up their bonuses for fiscal 2012 ending March, taking responsibility for poor business performance, company officials said Wednesday.

It will be the first time for both Sony corporate officers and executives at group companies to give up their bonuses and the second consecutive year for corporate officers to forgo all of their bonuses.

It is almost certain that Sony has failed to achieve its pledge to turn around its struggling electronics business during the last business year, although it has taken a series of restructuring measures including cutting 10,000 jobs at home and abroad, and closing a factory in Gifu Prefecture in March.

For the executives concerned, it will mean a 30 to 50 percent reduction in their annual salaries, with the total amount reaching hundreds of millions of yen.

The idea was proposed by Sony President Kazuo Hirai and the management to take responsibility for the company's struggling business, and approved by outside directors.

For the business year through March, Sony is expected to report a net profit of 40 billion yen thanks to asset sales, swinging into the black for the first time in five years on a consolidated basis.