Sony executives give up performance bonuses

Sony said Tuesday that seven senior executives, including its new chief, will not receive bonuses tied to its latest annual results, which saw the troubled firm post a record $5.8 billion loss. Former chief executive Howard Stringer and his successor Kazuo Hirai are among those who will not be paid performance-linked bonuses, but a company spokesman declined to specify the amount they had been expected to receive. However, similar bonuses paid to top executives for the previous fiscal year totalled 224 million yen ($2.8 million), he added. The bonuses are separate from a combined base salary totalling 602 million yen paid to eight top executives -- including one not slated to receive the performance bonus -- in the fiscal year through March, Sony said. The company will hold its shareholders meeting on June 27. The electronics and entertainment giant logged a record full-year loss of 456.66 billion yen in its latest business year, the fourth consecutive annual shortfall, as it struggles to stem losses at its television division. On Monday, Sony shares fell below 1,000 yen for the first time since 1980, shrinking its market value to less than a tenth of what it was just over a decade ago. Its shares climbed back above the symbolic level on Tuesday, rising 3.31 percent to 1,029 yen. In April, Sony said it would cut about 10,000 jobs and spend nearly $1.0 billion on an overhaul that its new chief executive described as "urgent". The announcement came after the company said the Welsh-born American Stringer would step down as its chief executive but was staying on as chairman. Japanese companies have blamed tough competition from rivals including South Korea's Samsung, falling prices, slow demand, the impact of severe flooding in Thailand last year, and the high yen for their struggles. The stronger yen hits Japanese exporters by making their products more expensive overseas, while eroding the value of foreign-earned profits.