Royal Philips Electronics To Cut 2,200 More Jobs By 2014

By Moran Zhang | September 11 2012 9:26 AM

Royal Philips Electronics NV, the largest maker of lights, said Tuesday it plans to cut another 2,200 jobs by 2014 to save €300 million ($383 million) a year as economic conditions deteriorate.

REUTERS

Teamsters Mark A. Owsianiak (L) and Mark Bishop put up a sign at the Philips Electonics booth before the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at the Las Vegas Convention Center January 3, 2008.

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Ahead of an investor event in London, Chief Executive Frans van Houten said in a statement that saving money will lessen "the effects of macro-economic headwinds and changes in pension cost accounting."

The Dutch electronics company didn't mention how many jobs would be eliminated from the Netherlands, which holds a national election on Wednesday where job losses are among the main campaign issues.

Philips announced the first round of 4,500 job cuts in October, 1,200 of them on home turf. Philips had 121,801 employees worldwide at the end of the second quarter, 14,000 of them in the Netherlands.

The additional savings announced Tuesday will bring total savings from the program to €1.1 billion, from its previous target of €800 million.

Van Houten, who took the helm at the Amsterdam-based company in April last year, has been forced to issue two profit warnings, reset financial targets, slash thousands of jobs, replace his entire top executive team, as weak consumer demand and austerity measures hurt sales in its consumer lifestyle and healthcare unit.

American depository receipts of Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV (NYSE: PHG) rose 1.04 percent in Tuesday's pre-market trading.