Japan Display to cut 1,500 jobs in Japan on consecutive years of losses
Japan Display Inc., or JDI, said Thursday that it will cut about 1,500 jobs in Japan — or nearly 60% of its domestic workforce — as it has remained in the red for 11 consecutive years.
The same day, the struggling maker of small and midsize liquid crystal display panels reported a consolidated net loss of ¥78.2 billion ($538.7 million) for fiscal 2024, which is larger than the previous year's loss of ¥44.3 billion.
CEO Scott Callon will step down on June 1 to take responsibility for the company's poor performance. Upon approval at a general shareholders meeting on June 21, he will support his successor as nonexecutive chairman, without receiving compensation.
Jun Akema, who heads JDI's procurement division, will succeed Callon as CEO. He will also assume the president's role.
At a news conference, Callon apologized for the inconvenience caused to shareholders, client companies and JDI employees as a result of the deteriorated business performance.
JDI will solicit voluntary redundancies from June 26 to Aug. 25, including those related to the planned end of LCD panel production at its Mobara plant in Chiba Prefecture by around next March. It also plans to cut jobs overseas.
In the year ended March, the company's sales fell 21.4% from the previous year to ¥188 billion, and its operating loss widened to ¥37.0 billion from ¥34.1 billion.
JDI did not issue an earnings forecast for fiscal 2025, citing uncertainty over its restructuring measures.
JDI was founded in 2012 through the merger of the LCD panel operations of Hitachi, Toshiba and then-Sony Corp. After the Mobara plant is shut down, it will only have one domestic production base in Kawakita, Ishikawa Prefecture.
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