Nikon to cut 1000 jobs

According to the Nikkei Asian Review, camera manufacturer Nikon is set to shed 1000 jobs over the next two to three years.

The cuts are reportedly due to Nikon's shrinking digital camera business and a downturn in semiconductor equipment operations.

Nikon was the world's leading producer of semiconductor lithography systems until the 1990s, but had recently lost market share to Dutch rival ASML. Sales in the company's camera business dropped 30 per cent in three years to 520.4 billion in 2015.

 

Perhaps another indicator of the current woes, Nikon's highly anticipated enthusiast-friendly DL compact cameras have yet to hit the market almost a year after their official announcement, and it has been reported the maker's new KeyMission actioncams haven't been well received in the market. 

Other Japanese camera manufacturers aren't faring that well either. Ricoh has announced the closure of a production facility, while Canon has downgraded its full-year forecast and is expecting a 25 per cent drop in group net profit for 2016 amid declining sales of printers and cameras.

Nikkei reports that Nikon will most likely offer early retirement to workers at facilities including its Kumagaya plant in Saitama Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, which makes semiconductor lithography systems. Severance payments and other restructuring costs are expected to total hundreds of millions of dollars over two to three years.

Nikkei story available here.