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" Sony Mobile has today announced that it will cut up to 1,000 jobs over the next two years and shift its global headquarters from Sweden to Tokyo, Japan. Sony plans to revamp the global operating structure of its mobile company, which was formed after the buyout of Swedish tech giant Ericsson from the Sony Ericsson venture last year.   In October this year, Sony Mobile will move its headquarters and other functions from Lund in Sweden to Tokyo. The firm will also implement a cost-cutting programme at its development sites in Tokyo, Lund, and Beijing, China.  The cuts, aimed at improving market efficiency and streamlining operations, are expected to result in Sony Mobile losing 15% of its workforce, expected to be 1,000 personnel including consultants throughout the financial years of 2012 and 2013 (completed by March 2014).  The bulk of the job losses will come in Lund, where around 650 positions are expected to close. The remaining cuts are understood to be primarily consultants in Sweden, who came over from the Sony Ericsson business. Despite the reorganisation, Lund will remain a strategic site for Sony Mobile, used for mainly software and application development.  Since it spent \u20AC1.05 billion (\u00A3918 million) to take over Sony Ericsson, Sony has been busying revamping its mobile operation, including the launch of the Xperia smartphone product line.  &amp;quot;Sony has identified the mobile business as one of its core businesses and the Xperia smartphone portfolio continues to gain momentum with customers and consumers worldwide,&amp;quot; said Kunimasa Suzuki, the president and chief executive of Sony Mobile.  &amp;quot;We are accelerating the integration and convergence with the wider Sony group to continue enhancing our offerings, and a more focused and efficient operational structure will help to reduce Sony Mobile&amp;#039;s costs, enhance time to market efficiency and bring the business back to a place of strength.&amp;quot; In April, the main Sony business announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs worldwide and slash the number of TV models it makes by 40% as part of a major restructure aimed at turning around the loss-making electronics giant.  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/news/a401303/sony-mobile-to-cut-1000-jobs-relocate-hq-to-tokyo/>