Report: Nikon to cut 20% of staff outside Japan

Nikon has announced plans to cut 20 per cent of its workforce outside of Japan by March 2022, in a move that confirms the company has taken a considerable financial hit in 2020.

According to Japanese website Nikkei (translation), Nikon President Toshikazu Umatate said during a financial results briefing last week that in order to reduce the company’s operating costs by more than 80 billion yen ($1,043,360,000.00 AUD), its number of 'overseas employees' (those working outside of Japan) will drop to 60% of the figure in March 2017.

PetaPixel has suggested this will mean a cut of more than 2,000 workers, which come on the back of operating losses of $183.3 million in Q2 2020. 

Umatate also confirmed that in further measures to cut costs, some manufacturing will be moved to Thailand, although the company plans to keep overseas factories open. It is expected however that production personnel will be cut as the company looks to reduce capacity.

As noted by Nikkei, recent reports have confirmed that Coronavirus has had a devastating affect on the camera industry globally, with the number of cameras shipped worldwide during 2020 expected to be about half of those shipped in 2019.

“It’s important to fit the entire company in a way that is commensurate with the scale of sales,” Umatate said, referencing the planned reductions. 

The moves come just weeks after Nikon's two new flagship mirorless cameras were announced, the Nikon Z 6 II and Nikon Z 7 II.