About 40 executives of Japanese group Sony have given up bonuses for last year estimated to total 1 billion yen ($10 million), as they haven’t managed to put in practice the promise of bringing to profit the electronics division.
Sony executives have given up bonuses in the past, but the last “act of repentance” is the largest so far.
The board of directors approved a proposal of the chief executive officer, Kazuo Hirai, to give up bonuses for directors representing 30-50% of the remuneration packages for the fiscal year ending in March, “due to severe business circumstances, including stagnant performance in the electronics sector,” said today Mami Imada, a Sony spokeswoman. She added that the Sony executives have also given up last year a part of their bonuses, “but the number this time is unprecedented.”
Group representative declined to specify the amount of bonuses that executives have returned.
Hirai, head of Sony since April 2012 pledged to reinvigorate the electronics divisions by cutting 10,000 jobs and reduce the importance of the unprofitable television division.
The maker of PlayStaion reported last week preliminary financial data for the past year. Net profit stood perhaps at 40 billion yen (410 million dollars) in the last fiscal year, compared to a loss of 456.7 billion yen a year earlier. Sony has achieved a profit of approximately $2 billion from the sale of properties and stock holdings in other companies. Sony was previously in the red for four years. Sony’s full financial reports for 2012 are expected on May 09.
Sony shares were down today 1.85 percent to 1,583 on the Tokyo stock market.
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