Toshiba, Ericcson cut 5,900 jobs
Japanese electronics company slashes 3,900 jobs while the the London-based phone maker cuts 2,000 workers.
(CNN) -- Two major electronics companies announced thousands of job cuts Friday as the global economic downturn ripples through the labor market.
Japanese Toshiba Corp. (TOSBF) said 3,900 contract workers would be cut by March 2010 as the company deals with growing losses. Toshiba also announced that it might have lost more money in fiscal 2008 than officials had originally forecast. Toshiba said it might have lost 350 billion yen ($3.5 billion) instead of the 280 billion yen originally expected.
Sony Ericsson also announced gloomy news, saying it will slash 2,000 jobs worldwide. Those job cuts will be added to the 2,000 job cuts that the mobile-phone maker has already made, the London-based company announced. The company also said it had lost 293 million euros ($386 million) in the first quarter of 2009.
"As expected, the first quarter of this year has been extremely challenging for Sony Ericsson due to continued weak global demand. We are aligning our business to the new market reality, with the aim of bringing the company back to profitability as quickly as possible," President Dick Komiyama said. 
