Sony details restructuring measures

Among the measures undertaken to date are integration and consolidation of sales offices and resource optimization in sales and marketing organizations, primarily in Japan, the U.S. and Europe. In order to make Sony's manufacturing operations relating to its digital imaging business more efficient, the manufacture of interchangeable lenses and lens blocks currently being conducted at Sony EMCS Corp.'s Minokamo Site (located in Minokamo, Gifu Prefecture) will be absorbed by EMCS Corp.'s Kohda Site (located in Kohda, Aichi Prefecture).

Overview of Minokamo Site: Company Name: Minokamo Site, Sony EMCS Corp. Site Area: 56,713m2 / Total Floor Area: 49,913m2 Number of employees: 840 (direct employment) Principle Operations: Manufacture of interchangeable lenses for digital SLR cameras, lens blocks and mobile phones. Customer service operations for mobile phone business in Japan

As Sony concentrates its mobile phone business on the area of smartphones, the operations currently being carried out at the Minokamo Site relating to mobile phones will be partially discontinued and partially transferred to Sony EMCS Corp.'s Kisarazu Site. As a result of this realignment, the Minokamo Site is scheduled to close at the end of March 2013. Early retirement programs will be implemented at Sony Corporation, Sony EMCS Corp. and other major consolidated electronics subsidiaries in Japan. These measures are expected to result in headcount reduction of approximately 2,000 employees by the end of FY12, with approximately half of the reductions (1,000 employees) expected to be in support functions, including the headquarters of Sony. In particular, at Sony's headquarters operations where organizational integration and optimization have been actively implemented, a headcount reduction of approximately 20% is expected by the end of the current fiscal year through the introduction of an early retirement program and resource shifts. Headcount within the Home Entertainment and Sound Business Group, including the TV business group which has been implementing a series of ongoing profitability improvement measures, is expected to be reduced by approximately 20% by the end of October 2012 due to the transfer of employees outside the Company, together with a resource shift in personnel to other operations within the Sony Group. Following the sale of the chemical products businesses completed in late September 2012, approximately 1,800 employees have been transferred outside the Sony Group.