By Tatsuya Moritani / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

Panasonic Holdings Corp. President and Group CEO Yuki Kusumi asked shareholders for their understanding on the company's plan to reduce its domestic and overseas workforce by a total of 10,000 employees, primarily during the current fiscal year ending March 2026, at its annual general shareholders' meeting in Osaka on Monday.

"Workforce optimization is inevitable," Kusumi said. Some shareholders in attendance questioned whether the cuts are necessary given that the company is still profitable.

Konosuke Matsushita, the company's founder, reportedly declared that "not a single employee would be laid off" when the Great Depression caused the business environment to become much more challenging. Citing this, a shareholder asked if the current plan contradicts the founder's spirit.

"The founder's statement has significant meaning, but it is also true that the business environment today is very different," Kusumi replied. Another shareholder questioned if the company can really transform after reducing its workforce by about 10,000.

Panasonic Holdings has identified four of its businesses, including its not very profitable kitchen-related business, as "businesses with issues" and is considering selling or halting them by the end of the fiscal year ending March 2027. Kusumi said the company will make a decision on this policy by the end of March 2026.

Approximately 1,500 shareholders attended the general meeting in person or online, and all three proposals, including the election of directors, were approved. The meeting lasted about two hours.

Prof. Yutaka Matsuo of the University of Tokyo, a leading expert in AI research, will become a new outside director.

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This article is from The Yomiuri Shimbun. Neither Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, Barron's nor The Wall Street Journal were involved in the creation of this content.

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June 24, 2025 07:21 ET (11:21 GMT)

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