Sony Electronics announced today that they plan to eliminate upwards of 16,000 full-time and contract workers from their electronics business in order to deal with the slumping global economy. Sony has been on something of a roll, having won the hard-fought HD disc format war with its Blu-ray format. Sony also enjoys tremendous success in the world of video games with their Playstation 3 system, which also uses Blu-ray technology. Sony's BRAVIA LCD HDTVs are among the best money can buy today, yet the company is struggling to meet their profit standards, so employees are losing their jobs in large numbers.

Competitor D&M Holdings announced yesterday that they were consolidating some of their sales and marketing between the Denon, Marantz and Boston Acoustics product lines so they can cut costs. They are looking at Snell and McIntosh for their next round of cuts if needed.

Harman International has consolidated their Mark Levinson operation from Massachusetts to their main facility in Northridge, California, after having many of their key engineers and staff move from Connecticut just five years earlier. The conjecture as to why the CEO made the move was to save on real estate costs, thus reducing overhead. Mark Levinson is most profitable because of its relationship with Lexus; they recently released a number of cost-no-object products like the $35,000 N° 502 AV preamp and the $50,000 a pair N° 53 hybrid digital power amps.

Australian audiophile and home theater company Halcro slashed their United States operation with steps that include closing their Las Vegas office and going with a fulfillment house to fill their orders.

Audioquest is rumored to have let go upwards of six employees to lower costs. Audioquest couldn't be reached at the time of publication for comment.