::::Olympus to cut 2,500 jobs, sell equity stake - media::::

<div class=&quot;custm_img_blk&quot;<img src=&quot;http://www.techgig.com/files/photo_1338397825_temp.jpg&quot; border=&quot;0&quot; width=&quot;200&quot; height=&quot;150&quot; align=&quot;left&quot; /</div<pJapan's Olympus Corp (<span7733.T</span), hit by a $1.7 billion fraud scandal, plans to shed 2,500 workers and sell an equity stake to either Sony Corp (<span6758.T</span) or Panasonic Corp (<span6752.T</span) in a bid to bolster its finances, local media reported Wednesday.</p<p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;Olympus, the world's leading maker of diagnostic endoscopes, is struggling to recover from an accounting fraud uncovered last year by its then CEO, Michael Woodford. It was forced to correct years of accounts, leaving its balance sheet badly weakened.</p<p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;The job losses, equal to about 7 percent of its total workforce, will come mainly from Olympus's loss-making camera business and by consolidating its overseas plants, the Nikkei business daily said. They would be revealed on June 8, it added.</p<p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;Sony and Panasonic are the leading contenders to pump fresh equity in Olympus, the Asahi newspaper said, adding that the successful suitor would invest several hundreds of millions of dollars for a stake of more than 10 percent.</p<p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;That decision is expected by end-June, the Asahi said.</p<p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;Olympus shares jumped 4 percent to 1,214 yen on the news, although the stock is still down nearly half since Woodford blew the whistle last October.</p<p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;Investors in Sony and Panasonic, both struggling to turn their own businesses around after reporting record losses, gave the newspaper reports a cold reception on Wednesday. Sony shares fell 1.9 percent and Panasonic lost 2.2 percent in a wider Tokyo market which dipped only 0.3 percent.</p<p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;Panasonic is considering plans to shed as much as half its 7,000-strong workforce at its headquarters, after 17,000 job cuts in the year ended March 31. Sony has said it is cutting 10,000 people from its payroll.</p<p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;Both companies have been hobbled by losses in their TV businesses but there has been speculation that they, along with other global electronics firms, are interested in expanding into the healthcare industry, which offers more stable revenues.</p<p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;Olympus's endoscope business has continued to be a reliable earner throughout the scandal and its tumultuous aftermath.</p<p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;Japan, unaccustomed to mass U.S.-style layoffs, is awash with news of job losses as big companies look to cut costs amid weak demand and a strong, profit-sapping yen.</p<p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;Last weekend, a source revealed that struggling chip-maker Renesas Electronics Corp (<span6723.T</span), the world's largest maker of microcontroller chips, would axe 12,000 jobs.</p<p style=&quot;margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px&quot;On Tuesday, Woodford won a likely multi-million dollar settlement from Olympus over his claim of unfair dismissal.</p

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