Sony Mobile moves headquarters back to Tokyo
1,000 layoffs involved as Swedish head office closes doors
Sony Mobile is moving its headquarters from Lund in Sweden to Tokyo as part of the restructuring process following its buyout of Ericsson from the business. Over 1,000 job losses are expected as part of the move.
Despite the losses representing a ten per cent reduction in the division's global workforce, the arm's CEO Kunimasa Suzuki was adamant that mobile remains a key factor in Sony's ongoing plans.
"Sony has identified the mobile business as one of its core businesses and the Xperia smartphone portfolio continues to gain momentum with customers and consumers worldwide," said Suzuki.
"We are accelerating the integration and convergence with the wider Sony group to continue enhancing our offerings, and a more focused and efficient operational structure will help to reduce Sony Mobile's costs, enhance time to market efficiency and bring the business back to a place of strength."
Around 650 of the job losses will come directly from workers at the Lund plant, with most of the rest being from Swedish consultants and support staff.