Sony plans to overhaul lossmaking TV division

Sony Corporation will pull together plans this month to restructure its lossmaking television business and even consider teaming up with other firms, a senior executive said this week, days after the company cut its full-year net profit forecast.The maker of Bravia TVs and PlayStation games consoles is heading for its eighth straight year of losses in the TV business, as it struggles to compete with lower cost Asian rivals such as Samsung Electronics, and warned last week that losses on TVs could widen this year.Sony will review everything from development and production to sales in its TV division, a Sony spokeswoman quoted Chief Financial Officer Masaru Kato as saying in a newspaper interview with the Nikkei business daily. The plans will be put into practice as soon as possible, Kato was quoted as saying.Sony has already sold off TV factories in Spain, Slovakia and Mexico in the past few years and outsources much production to Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group.Sony and Panasonic Corporation have warned of weak TV sales, especially in the United States and Europe, following Philips and Corning Inc in highlighting sluggish demand.Sony, once a symbol of Japan’s high-tech might, is struggling to come up with hit devices and improve profit margins as it faces tough competition from Samsung and Apple Inc.This year, Sony put off plans to raise investment in an LCD TV panel joint venture with Japan’s Sharp, while last week a newspaper report said Sony was also considering pulling out of its joint TV panel venture with Samsung, although both companies denied the story. From / Gulf today