LG to cut $2.2 billion in costs, no major job cuts announced yet

LG Electronics Co. said it will trim $2.2 billion from its overhead, including headquarters and 82 subsidiaries around the globe, citing the global economic downturn that led it to a loss in fourth-quarter earnings.
LG is the third-largest handset maker worldwide and third in the United States. The trim in overhead is about 30% of the company’s annual costs, according to The Financial Times.
CEO Yong Nam said that no major job cuts were yet planned, but that some layoffs in overseas manufacturing plants were possible. The company has about 82,000 employees worldwide. More than half the company’s production is manufactured in overseas plants.
The executive said in a statement that the company would not cut investments in research-and-development, marketing, branding and design and would target areas of future growth such as solar power, commercial air conditioning and business-to-business solutions.