Sony Ericsson, which announced in November that it will close its Research Triangle Park operations, reported its sixth consecutive quarterly loss this morning.
The mobile-phone joint venture of Sony and Ericsson has been losing money as competition increases in the market for smartphones. The fourth-quarter loss of $236.4 million was a slight improvement from a year earlier. Sales dropped 40 percent.
Sony Ericsson has slashed jobs and cut costs to offset slower sales. Since mid-2008, the company has trimmed 2,500 positions, including some in RTP.
Closing that campus this year will eliminate 425 more jobs. Spokeswoman Stacy Doster said the company can't comment on exactly when the RTP offices will close. Some local employees could be shifted to Atlanta, designated as the London-based company's new headquarters for the Americas.
"We will continue to focus on returning the company to profitability," CEO Bert Nordberg said in a prepared statement. "2010 will still be challenging as the full benefit of cost improvements will not impact results until the second half of the year."
The company did forecast "a slight growth" in the global handset market, as consumer buy more touchscreen phones that surf the Web, send e-mail, play music and more.
Assistant Business Editor Alan M. Wolf joined the N&O in 1999 covering the business of health care. He became an editor in 2001, and helps oversee the paper's daily business coverage and Sunday Work&Money section. He lives in Clayton with his wife and two children. Reach him at 919-829-4572 or
Comments
RE: YOUR MANGAMENTANINTERNAL DECESIONS
Sun, 01/24/2010 - 11:36 — beachbum3I f i were a manger or the ceo of a company the size of yours an other big internationl companys that are consistiently lossing money for the company an the investors an the shareholders if there be any . i would start with warnings to them an then within the fourth quater after the warnings went out to all concerned. that if thing within the companys didn''t start to making a sure enough good effort turn around profit wise that there would be some new vacanrt positions withn the mangers/ mangament ranks an all of the blame would be stoped form being place on the lower indivsual internal workers an manger would be held highly accountable for the companys successes or failures an also base on these issues alone the huigh bonues would be discontinuted until such time as that the companys turn around was to become sustainable . thank you