back to article Pioneer unplugs tellies and 10,000 workers

Gadget maker Pioneer is axing jobs and pulling out of making flatscreen tellies because "there are no prospects for improving profitability under current conditions". Both LCD and plasma boxes are for the chop. The Japanese firm will concentrate on car electronics, navigation, audio and professional DJ kit instead. Pioneer had …

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  1. Mike Crawshaw

    Setting a Good Example

    "The firm will pay no bonuses to directors, and expects exec and director pay to fall some 20 per cent to 50 per cent until March 2011."

    Jeez. If only a few other industries (hello, banking? I'm looking at you!) would follow suit on this part.

    Being laid off (been there twice, currently looking at #3 inside the next 6-12) is never fun, but even less so when a single director - usually being one of the people who got things wrong which has led to you being out of work - gets a yearly bonus worth more than you could hope to make in your working life*.

    *Peter Cummings, HBOS Chief Exec Corporate Division**: 2007, Basic pay = £630,000, plus a further £1,976,000 bonus - giving a total package (£2.606M) enough to pay for 170 branch staff (earning £12-15k at present), with leftovers for cake.

    At £30k pa, it would take you nearly 87 years to make what he did in one - and all he did was break everything.

    ** not that I have a particular dislike for either Mr Cummins or HBOS, his was simply the first set of details I found - and seeing as HBOS has fallen to pieces, it seemed more appropriate that looking for Barclays.

  2. Terry
    Flame

    Mabye it's profitable....

    As far as I am concerned maybe their car navigation systems are profitable, but they should have stuck with TVs. They certainly will NEVER get another dime from me for a navigation system. They make the lowest quality kit on the market bar none. And the support desk lies to your face -- well ear actually.

    However, I can say with first hand experience that once you protest the charges to your credit card company and they find themselves with payment being withdrawn by someone with a hell of a lot bigger stick than theirs, they can be forced kicking, screaming, and cussing to abide by the legal minimum.

    Will the moderators let me get by with a "rot in hell pioneer" end tag?

  3. Jean-Paul
    Unhappy

    Shame

    Real shame as their plasma telly's are actually worth the label HD compared to the cheap mass market rubbish...

  4. calagan
    Dead Vulture

    Sorely missed

    The plasma fans will sorely miss the Kuros: nothing came even close in terms of quality. However, IMHO, there wasn't much hope for the future of this technology.

  5. Coalescence

    Shame, but

    I'm glad they're not winding down DJ hardware development.. My CDJ1000's are probably my most precious items.

  6. Dan
    Thumb Down

    Credit crunch = no place for quality

    So one of the best TV manufacturers is gone. Clearly, cheaper is indeed more cheerful.

    (Ok, being fair, I am overdoing it a bit - the Panasonic set that I will opt for instead will be almost as good, and use the same display panel.)

  7. Mark

    Does this mean...

    I'll have to go out and buy a 60" kuro while they still make them, damn it?

  8. Bo Pedersen
    Thumb Up

    does this mean?

    that they are going to make new record players?

    actually new DJkit is quite exciting, but its a very competitive market, and they are not only up against Technics and Vestax anymore

    some of the "lesser quality" players have released some serious kit, Numark and Kam etc.

    tellies might come back again some other time, when margins get decent again, but when you can pick up a 32" LCD for less than £300 its a tough market!!!

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Sad

    Another company laying off thousands of workers. Kudos for not paying bonuses and for being sensible about their execs pay though.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Boffin

    Re: "Sorely missed"

    Plasma screens are going the way of the incandescent light bulb. California (always a bellwether) either has, or will, prohibit their sale in the state on energy efficiency grounds. They'll take my Kuro from my cold, dead hands!

  11. Andre

    Give me $5 and RUN MY LIFE

    Been in IT for 10 years and I am at the point where I ask myself .... is this it?

    My mind thinks ... where are all the years going ..... as I look back ..... If I was 21 again I would do this or when I was 15 I should have nail that cunt for bitching on me!! - so many things I would have liked to have done.

    So I came up with this. From now until June 1st 2009 I am going to try and raise 100,000 USD, and as from that date I let people tell me what to do, by means of voting on tasks.

    So you could tell me to:

    Do a bungee jump in Queenstown in New Zealand?

    Help out a run down porn queen in a trailer park in Las Vegas

    Give 5000 to a small start up in Finland

    Bang 4 fine e Euro Gumball race

    Buy an ochicks in Prague

    Drive in thld oil rig and help Pirate bay

    The choice of what I am todo is entirely up to the voters each Sunday night after June 1st until the cash runs out.

    So if you like my simple idea and trust me with your pennies then why not give a dollar or two for the cause http://www.paulkinsella.com - you also get a backlink and tag [size depends on how much you give]

    give a comment or two on the site if you have the time so I can get the feelings for the logic..

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