Sharp announces Y222 bil loss; plans thousands of job cuts

Layoffs and paycuts... was Sharp one of the companies who gave a (teeny tiny but nonetheless) pay raise just a few weeks ago? Hope those who will be laid off will be able to land another job.

Innovation. . .the wow factor. . .Sharp, Sony & Panasonic. Nothing innovative has been released since 2002. Stagnation and "follow-the-leader" mentality made these once great giants of industry the mediocre companies they are today.

Another large Japanese electronics giant bites the dust.

DenTok2009May. 15, 2015 - 07:40AM JST

Layoffs and paycuts... was Sharp one of the companies who gave a (teeny tiny but nonetheless) pay raise just a few weeks ago? Hope those who will be laid off will be able to land another job.

Nope....... I know from first hand that Sharp hasn't given a pay rise for many many a year.

Even in the good days of the early 2000s, Sharp was stingy with bonuses.

I betcha they are still giving out their giant bonuses to employees.

Too many different products. Such a waste of materials.

D_BarricadeMay. 15, 2015 - 07:57AM JST

Innovation. . .the wow factor. . .Sharp, Sony & Panasonic. Nothing innovative has been released since 2002. Stagnation and "follow-the-leader" mentality made these once great giants of industry the mediocre companies they are today.

That was the problem exactly. Sharp was never great on innovation. Most R & D had the engineers surf the internet to see what other were up to and improve on what had already been developed.

The other main problem was the type of graduate that was employed, The old engineers, many retired about 2000 - 2005, were a very different kettle of fish, Educated in the 1960s and early 1970s, often having left university with just a first degree in engineering, they were workers who had experienced life.

Those who replaced them were educated in the later 1970s - 1980s and although they had advanced scientific/engineering degrees from such prestigious universities as Tohoku, they had zilch life experience, having spent their formative years in their bedrooms with Sailor Moon.

Sharp was/is an example of Japan Inc in the 21st Century and others will soon follow.

pointofviewMay: Too many different products. Such a waste of materials.

Yep. I worked at another (smaller) IT系 company here. The workers spend countless hours on profitless products numbering into the thousands.

"...said it would issue 200 billion yen worth of new shares with no voting rights to Mizuho Bank and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ as part of its bid to repair a badly damaged balance sheet."

I suspect both banks already have huge amounts of money owed them from Sharp and this is essentially another loan.

Another large Japanese electronics giant bites the dust.

I imagine that the Japanese are beginning to feel the way Americans did back in the 70's and 80's.

Since 2012 the Nikkei225 is up 130% vs Sharp -70% yet Takahashi CEO and his clowns on the board are still around making embarassing decisions like decreasing capital to receive tax incentives for small to mid cap corporations. I would be seriously pssd off if my decades of "for the company" was flushed down the toilet.

Sony Gaming is why Sony still alive. I miss the old Japan when was the second economic power of the world...... I wanna feel a product says "Made in Japan".....

Sony Gaming is why Sony still alive. I miss the old Japan when was the second economic power of the world...... I wanna feel a product says "Made in Japan".....

These are my feelings exactly. Japan should do the impossible. There are so many technology companies out there today, who are trying to innovate and pave the future. If these big companies keep trying to make products that follow the bandwagon of higher specifications (such as higher quality TVs, audio, etc.) the company is doomed to fail eventually. What makes companies magical is their level of care for the products that they create and the total experience. Executives need to make products that they would want to buy. If they can't learn this, the company will continue to lose money.

Sharp, like rivals Sony and Panasonic, has been working to move past years of gaping deficits, partly caused by steep losses in its television unit, which has been hammered by competition from lower-cost rivals particularly in South Korea and Taiwan.

Price is not the issue here. For example, Apple still makes money even though it's products are largely overpriced. The reason they make money is because Apple cares about its products and gives quality customer experience. Customer service is something to invest in...to believe in

10% of its 49,000-strong global workforce, including 3,500 jobs in Japan.

So does that mean 4,900 plus 3,500?

I still think Sharp makes brilliant mobile phones. The designs are always cutting edge, usually stuff that looks like its straight out of science fiction. Perhaps not the highest spec processors, and UI could do with a boost, but still dont get the recognition that they deserve.

I wonder, if TVs are getting undercut and outpriced by the Korean/Chinese rivals, why dont they just drop that division? Sharp has so many other products in areas that they are great at... Just cut the entire TV division and concentrate on the rest?

@Gary Raynor Thanks. Good to know Sharp didn't feel the need to jump on the "Raise the Salary" campaign despite its struggles.

@JapanGal I'm guessing 3,500 jobs lost in Japan and 1,400 jobs for the rest of the world.

The net loss—much bigger than an earlier 30 billion yen forecast—came as Sharp said it would cut about 10% of its 49,000-strong global workforce, including 3,500 jobs in Japan.

I'd say, like over 7 times as big, or about 200 billion yen bigger than forecast. And all they can think of doing is cutting jobs. Sorry, but that is not a "turnaround plan". Clearly Sharp management is not up to this challenge, and should be swept aside by the shareholders. But that will never happen in Japan, since the shareholders are all Sharp's customers and banks. Japan Inc., in way too many cases, is woefully unprepared to face the reality of the 21st century global economy, and can only complain about "tough, foreign competition" and cut jobs. The protectionism that Japan prided itself on has now come back to bite it in the butt, since companies like Sharp, Sony, Panasonic, etc. must utilize a totally different skill set to succeed overseas than what they learned in Japan. We all know Japan has no real competition. Guess all you folks who knocked me and Cerberus just yesterday, and said Japan does not need turn-around companies like Cerberus really have no clue.

Sharp has been a dog for a LONG time now.

However I remember chuckling when right after abe got the yen de-valued there were articles on how Sharp was now going to rebound yada yada yada................well here were are, still a dog!

When are J-companies going to realize they cant survive just churning out commodity electronics, Japan is LONG over due to realize they just cant make these things in Japan & make $$$. The same thing happened in NAmerica in the 70's I remember how TV manufacturers etc all declined, I remember them being replaced by cheap J-made electronics!

Well Japan guess what, your window of making this stuff closed about 15+yrs ago, you will NEVER be able to continue to make this stuff unless you try turning Japan into NKorea or some other un-developed nation. ITS OVER, time to realize the blatantly obvious!

Predictable cherry-picking going on here. The problems at one company being used to make sweeping generalizations about the economy and country as a whole, with of course the usual flavor of the month talking points of "innovation" and the "global economy" being trotted out.

Meanwhile, in other news - "With about two thirds of the listed firms on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s first section having reported, analysts are expecting record profits of more than 20 trillion yen ($167 billion) for fiscal 2014.", and "Japanese firms held 217 trillion yen ($1.8 trillion) in cash at the end of last year, a pile equal to about 40 percent of annual national economic output." http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN0NZ2FP20150514?irpc=932

Just think how much more Japanese corporations would make if only they were "innovative" and "competitive". And I'm sure that that 217 trillion yen of dead money sitting on corporate books has nothing to do with any economic problems, because they don't talk about such issues in the free market comic books used in economics education, so it must not be important. No, it must all be about the lack of innovation.

thats a lot of jobs. they are not mere statistics, they can be our neighbors. hope the LDP take note.

I don't understand how Japanese companies so often massively miss their mark on earnings compared to their forecasts. If Apple predicted it would lose $100 million for the year but then came in with a $10 billion loss. There would be a tremendous amount of explaining to do. But Japan... no. Companies tell investors anything they want because no one seems to care.

If I remember correctly, Sharp made a huge play on flat display screens and solar panels in the 1990s. Both of those products are now ubiquitous, but the competition in those fields in completely cut-throat. The world's largest solar panel manufacturer, a Chinese company called SunTech, went bankrupt in 2013. With flat screens, there is the problem that low cost screens are so good that manufacturers have struggled to upsell the way they did with CRT televisions. Sony's Trinitron etc. At the low end, there is very little margin to be made. I think Sharp made some of the "Retina" screens Apple put in their devices, but they screw all their suppliers pretty hard.

I don't doubt for one moment that the management at Sharp will have its fair share of old, out of touch types and could have done things better. But betting on flat screens and solar panels in itself in the 1990s was not a dumb play. To some extent they will be victims of circumstances beyond their control.

fwiw, hardly anyone stops to consider it, but Sony could never have made the original iPod because it supported mp3, which Napster had already established as the defacto file format. Sony is a huge record company and its content division would never have allowed a DRM-free format to be supported. I know from my own work that all of the other Japanese tech firms that participated in the setting of the DVD format (from 1995 onwards) were all obsessed with DRM. Sony's own minidiscs that predated digital music players came with write once protection.

Aquos big-screen's are way overpriced. @ Best Buy (US) they don't sell well at all compared to their competitors. Had a feeling Sharp was lagging behind in that market.

Sharp just doesn't seem to be much of a leader in any division. I don't buy Sharp, usually because it's the 2nd or 3rd best option I have.

Every year the likes of Sharp, Panasonic & Sony post figures that are MUCH worse than expected - ¥30bn vs ¥220bn?! How do their bean counters still have jobs?! How can you be hundreds of BILLIONS off-target?!

Predictable cherry-picking going on here. The problems at one company being used to make sweeping generalizations about the economy and country as a whole, with of course the usual flavor of the month talking points of "innovation" and the "global economy" being trotted out.

Yup, and the predictable rosy proclamations from some are just as predictable, despite the evidence to the contrary.

Meanwhile, in other news - "With about two thirds of the listed firms on the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s first section having reported, analysts are expecting record profits of more than 20 trillion yen ($167 billion) for fiscal 2014.", and "Japanese firms held 217 trillion yen ($1.8 trillion) in cash at the end of last year, a pile equal to about 40 percent of annual national economic output."

So what? As usual, you have failed to give your comment any context. Apple alone had net income of over $38.0 billion. So $167 billion for the entire first section is pretty lame by global standards, especially since much of it was driven by the lowering of the yen, rather than actual improved corporate performance.

@jerseyboy What "rosy" proclamations? I said you are cherry-picking and parroting a media narritive. Standard Japan Doomerism, the default setting of economically illiterate journalists who do their research from a bar stool at he FCCJ. And what is it about the word "record" that goes over your head? And yes, we all know about the depreciation of the yen.

@nonanimejapanBut remember Apple in the past years didn't listen the costumers what they want, and his stock share price drop from 100 to 55 after stay like around 75 - 2013 and 2014 Apple had a hard time to pick up again the consumer trust and listen what they want (kinda) but right now are more open because Apple knows consumers can move to Android devices or Windows phone (sorta). Consumers make companies successful is a simple rule companies don't fallowing often.

A minus 3 rating! One must never question the narrative! Yes, Japan's economic problems are due to the fact that the record corporate profits are NOT HIGH ENOUGH!!! Japan needs more INNOVATION so the record corporate profits can be EVEN HIGHER!!! But of course those record profits are all due to the drop in the yen, not much needed INNOVATION, even though the yen is well within its long-term trading range so by definition the RECORD profits are HIGHER than when the yen previously has traded at 120 to the dollar. This means that despite the lack of much needed INNOVATION profits have gone up. But as long as the media tells me what is needed is INNOVATION and of course REFORM I will not question their astute punditry. NEVER!!!

A minus 3 rating! One must never question the narrative! Yes, Japan's economic problems are due to the fact that the record corporate profits are NOT HIGH ENOUGH!!! Japan needs more INNOVATION so the record corporate profits can be EVEN HIGHER!!! But of course those record profits are all due to the drop in the yen, not much needed INNOVATION, even though the yen is well within its long-term trading range so by definition the RECORD profits are HIGHER than when the yen previously has traded at 120 to the dollar. This means that despite the lack of much needed INNOVATION profits have gone up. But as long as the media tells me what is needed is INNOVATION and of course REFORM I will not question their astute punditry. NEVER!!!

Wow, that is an amazing rant, even by your standards, Guy. I think you set a modern day record on JT for over-using CAPITAL LETTERS. The problem is, as is often the case, it is based on pure nonsense, and is simply qauntity of words, with no real substance. Take for example, your comment about the yen. In fact, if you had been really following the earnings annoncements by the major companies in Japan, you would have seen that virtually ALL OF THEM attribute much of their improved profits to A WEAKER YEN. Second, Japan's pitiful profit margins does hurt it, because it cannot afford to invest in R&D the way many of its international competitors can, and why many Japanese companies -- like most of the electronics sector -- are playing catch up as best. They cannot command higher prices, and tus make greater profits, because they are "me too". But, go ahead and prove me wrong and find a single firm in the First Section that has a profit margin even close to Apple or Microsoft.