According to Nihon Keizai Shimbun and Kyodo News Agency, Toshiba Corporation announced the launch of a major adjustment plan to cut 5,000 employees in Japan, a figure of about 10% of its total Japanese employees. This move aims to review and optimize the company's cost structure to suit the current market environment.
According to reports, the Tokyo-based company is scaling back its non-core business and will include a one-time cost of about 100 billion yen (equivalent to about $650 million) as a result.
The company plans to merge four business subsidiaries into the head office: energy such as power generation and nuclear power plants, infrastructure such as railways, mechanical hard disks (HDDs) and power semiconductor devices, and information technology (IT). This is also the first real-time layoff of employees by Toshiba since its delisting in December last year.
The layoffs mainly involved the support department of the head office. Toshiba will review the cost structure under the framework of the investment fund and lay the foundation for "regrowth centered on infrastructure and digital technology."
The report pointed out that Toshiba's management team is formulating a layoff plan and will negotiate with the labor union in May to determine the number of layoffs in each business unit. As of March 2023, Toshiba employs 70,000 people in Japan.
Toshiba Corporation has been working to cut costs for its vast business and seeks to focus on infrastructure and digital technology businesses. However, on Wednesday local time, a representative of the company issued a statement via email saying that Toshiba is developing a medium-term strategy, but there is no specific decision yet.
After the accounting fraud turmoil, the former home appliance giant fell off the altar
The history of Toshiba Corporation dates back to 1875. Toshiba, once a Japanese manufacturing giant, is Japan's former largest semiconductor manufacturer and one of the world's largest manufacturers of PCs, household appliances and medical devices, providing businesses ranging from semiconductor chips to nuclear equipment, but has been hit by scandals and serious losses since the accounting fraud scandal in 2015.
Subsequently, the company suffered a catastrophic blow to its foray into the nuclear energy business, forcing it to write down $6.3 billion and sell its "crown jewel" memory chip business (known as Kioxia Holdings).
Toshiba's U.S. nuclear power company, Westinghouse, filed for bankruptcy in 2017 after years of severe losses due to soaring safety costs.
Toshiba Corporation has been working to cut costs for its vast business and seeks to focus on infrastructure and digital technology businesses. After two spin-offs, Toshiba was delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange in late December last year, ending its 74-year listing career.