Dow Chemical said Monday it would cut 5,000 full-time jobs — about 11 percent of its work force — close 20 plants and sell several businesses to rein in costs amid the recession.
From CNBC:
Japan's Sony said it will cut 16,000 jobs, curb investment and pull out of businesses to save $1.1 billion a year as the financial crisis ravages demand for its electronics products.
The job cuts are the biggest announced by an Asian firm so far in the crisis and underscore the challenges facing Sony, which has fallen behind Apple Inc's iPod in portable music and is losing money on flat TVs.
Here's what I think is happening: companies are simply getting the pain out at the end of their fiscal year. These are large job cuts, meaning I don't think they just started talking about them. In other words, the companies are ripping the band-aid off as quickly as possible.
