Bond co-producers Sony Pictures to cut 3.5% of employees

11-Mar-2009 • Bond News

Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., the movie studio subsidiary of the Japanese electronics maker, is laying off nearly 250 people and eliminating nearly 100 open positions in an effort to cut costs - reports Associated Press.

Chief Executive Michael Lynton and studio co-chair Amy Pascal announced job cuts of 3.5 percent of the studio's staff worldwide in a staff memo sent out Tuesday afternoon.

"Our studio remains profitable, but over the past five months, the deepening global financial crisis has begun to impact some of our lines of business, such as television syndication, DVDs and advertising sales," they said in the memo.

"These economic effects have, regretfully, made it necessary to take the step we had hoped to avoid, and worked hard to minimize: reducing our headcount."

Less than 150 people will be laid off in the United States, most in Los Angeles, along with less than 100 people overseas. Nearly 100 open positions will not be filled.

The announcement follows other cost cutting moves made in October by the Culver City-based studio, which distributed "Paul Blart: Mall Cop" in January and the James Bond flick "Quantum of Solace" in November.

In October, the studio moved to reduce overtime, travel and executive benefits to cope with an economic downturn. But conditions have worsened since then, Lynton and Pascal said.

According to an industry association, The Digital Entertainment Group, U.S. home video sales and rental revenue fell 5.5 percent in 2008 to $22.4 billion, despite a near tripling of Blu-ray disc sales to about $750 million.

The market is down from its peak of $24.9 billion in 2004, with a slowdown caused by the maturing DVD format accelerated by a pullback in consumer spending.

In January, Sony Corp. predicted its first full-year loss for the fiscal year to March since 1995. A month earlier, the company announced it would cut 8,000 of its 185,000 jobs around the world, plus 8,000 temporary workers who aren't included in the global work force tally.

American depository receipts for Sony shares that traded on the New York Stock Exchange rose 73 cents, or 4.2 percent, to close at $18.31 on Tuesday.