Pioneer said Tuesday that it will cease manufacturing plasma TV panels by March 2009, after the company suffered its fourth straight annual loss.
Pioneer reported a loss of 17.99 billion yen ($173.3 million) on revenue of 774.48 billion yen. Pioneer reported that its as its global plasma TV sales dropped from 650,000 unit to 470,000 units for the year.
As a result, both Pioneer Display Products and Pioneer Plasma Display Corp. will end panel production by March 2009, after completing their orders for 2008. The production personnel will be shifted into Pioneer's car audio business, the company said.
Instead, Pioneer will source its plasma panels from Matsushita, and Matsushita will include Pioneer's "proprietary technologies," as the companies co-develop panels. Whether that means Matsushita will use the Pioneer "Kuro" ultrablack technology was not known. The Matsushita relationship was originally announced in March.
However, Pioneer said it also plans to launch a line of LCD TVs later this year, by purchasing LCD panels from its largest stakeholder, Sharp. The TVs will be launched first in Europe, and then expanded to other regions, Pioneer said.
The moves will save Pioneer 15 bllion yen in fiscal 2010, the company said. Reuters and other reports suggested that Pioneer could trim roughly 2,000 jobs as a result of the restructuring.
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