Konica Minolta to chop 2,400 jobs worldwide as demand for workplace printers wanes

TOKYO – Shares of Konica Minolta jumped to a 10-month excessive on its plan to slash 2,400 jobs worldwide, a part of an effort to spice up profitability.

The maker of photocopiers and medical diagnostic imaging tools mentioned in an announcement on April 4 it’s decreasing headcount around the globe over the following twelve months by rising productiveness by means of the usage of generative synthetic intelligence (AI).

The cuts are set to extend revenue by 20 billion yen (S$178 million) within the fiscal yr beginning April 2025, Konica Minolta mentioned.

The corporate, which had near 40,000 workers worldwide as at early 2023, mentioned it can focus its sources on profitability.

Japan is crowded with the world’s largest makers of workplace tools, together with Canon, Fujifilm Holdings and Ricoh.

Demand for printers and copiers has declined steadily as extra workplaces go paperless, prompting many of those corporations to shift their optics experience into areas reminiscent of healthcare, semiconductor manufacturing and house applied sciences.

In 2023, Ricoh and Toshiba Tec Corp introduced a merger of such operations, and traders have been searching for indicators of additional consolidation within the sector, in line with Okasan Securities analyst Takashi Shimamoto.

At a information convention concerning the corporate’s multifunction printer operations, Konica Minolta chief govt Toshimitsu Taiko mentioned: “We may also pursue the opportunity of alliances in areas the place there aren’t any aggressive clashes.”

He added: “We’re doing what we will on our personal.”

Konica Minolta will use AI “even for duties that require some judgment”, he mentioned.

Konica Minolta, which dates again to 1873, was an early innovator in cameras and photograph supplies. It later diversified into copiers and healthcare tools.

Its inventory value stays far under the extent of the 2000s. The inventory is down greater than 50 per cent over the previous 5 years.

The shares had recovered a few of these losses in latest months, gaining 21 per cent in 2024 earlier than it closed up 5.9 per cent on April 4. BLOOMBERG