The Japanese electronics maker Sony says it's to cut about 5% of its global workforce
and shut down 10% of its production facilities.
The move comes as new figures show Japan's recession
is deepening far more quickly than forecast.
The figures suggest that Japan's economy, the 2nd largest in the world,
shrank by 1.8% this year.
From Tokyo, here's Duncan Bartlett.
Sony says that 8,000 job cuts are necessary
in order to save company around 1 billion dollars per year.
It's already warned its profits will be less than half of those a year ago,
despite heavy promotion of its flat-screen TVs
and PlayStation 3, computer games machine.
Many other large companies have also seen their profits
decimated by a slump in sales and a rise in the value of the yen.
Small businesses are faring even worse with bankruptcy levels on a rise.