Olympus to cut 2,500 jobs, sell equity stake

TOKYO: Japan’s Olympus Corp, hit by a US$1.7bil fraud scandal, plans to shed 2,500 workers and sell an equity stake to either Sony Corp or Panasonic Corp in a bid to bolster its finances, local media reported.

Olympus, the world’s leading maker of diagnostic endoscopes, is struggling to recover from an accounting fraud uncovered last year by its then CEO Michael Woodford. It was forced to correct years of accounts, leaving its balance sheet badly weakened.

The job losses, equal to about 7% of its total workforce, would come mainly from Olympus’s loss-making camera business and by consolidating its overseas plants, the Nikkei business daily said. They would be revealed on June 8, it added.

Sony and Panasonic were the leading contenders to pump fresh equity in Olympus, the Asahi newspaper said, adding that the successful suitor would invest several hundreds of millions of dollars for a stake of more than 10%.

That decision was expected end-June, Asahi said.

Sony and Panasonic have been hobbled by losses in their TV businesses but there has been speculation that they, along with other global electronics firms, are interested in expanding into the healthcare industry, which offers more stable revenues. — Reuters

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