Sharp To Cut 5,000 Jobs As Quarter Worsens

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp. is slashing 5,000 jobs over the next year, or nearly 9 percent of its global workforce, after its quarterly loss ballooned from a year earlier.

Osaka-based Sharp reported Thursday that its April-June loss swelled to 138.4 billion yen ($1.8 billion) from 49 billion yen of red ink a year earlier.

Quarterly sales plunged 28 percent to 458.6 billion yen ($5.9 billion) as sales crashed in liquid crystal displays, flat-panel TVs and mobile phones.

Sharp forecast a bigger loss for the business year through March 2013. It now expects a 250 billion yen ($3.2 billion) loss compared with the 30 billion yen ($385 million) loss it projected earlier.

Sharp said the jobs cuts will come through voluntary and mandatory retirement and other arrangements.