Sony Chief Executive Howard Stringer acknowledged Thursday he had not gone far enough with cost cuts and efforts to combine entertainment with electronics as his company projected its first annual loss in 14 years. “More has to be done and more can get done,” Stringer said at a hastily called news conference at Sony's Tokyo headquarters. “We have a long way to go.” Sony Corp. said it will offer early retirement to employees at its prized TV division, seeking to trim personnel costs there by 30 percent. It is also slashing jobs at its movies, music and game businesses. Sony did not give a head count target for the reductions. It said it is cutting 1,000 temporary workers when it closes one of two TV plants in Japan. Stringer said he and two other top executives, including President Ryoji Chubachi, will give up their entire bonus, which would halve their annual pay, according to Sony. Other executives and managers will see lower pay. But Koya Tabata, electronics analyst at Credit Suisse in Tokyo, was skeptical about Sony's prospects. “There was no change to his strategy. What he said was more of the same,” he said.
