Sony Corp stepped up efforts to turn around its unprofitable electronics operations, quitting the personal computers business and splitting its TV division into a separate unit as it warned it expects steep losses this year.The Japanese company said on Thursday the restructuring will cut 5,000 jobs and trim 100 billion yen ($988 million) a year from fixed costs in the longer term. Losses in the TV business have long dogged its efforts to compete with global consumer electronics giants like Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co.With restructuring costs rising at the same time as core mobile and home entertainment businesses fall short of its expectations, Sony said it now forecasts a net loss of 110 billion yen ($1.1 billion) in the fiscal year ending in March. It previously expected a net profit of 30 billion yen.The job cuts, which will come in both TV and PC divisions, are to be implemented by March 2015. The cost savings are to kick in by the 2015-2016 financial year, Sony said.
Apple Inc. (Apple) designs, manufactures and markets mobile communication and media devices, personal computers, and portable digital music players, and a variety of related software, services, peripherals, networking solutions, and third-party digital content and applications. Shares of AAPL traded higher by 0.75% or $3.8/share to $512.59. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $385.10 and as high as $575.14. On average, 12320000 shares of AAPL exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 11760308.
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