Sharp Expected to Post Operating Loss: Another "First" in the Industry

NEW YORK/TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Sharp Corp will post an annual operating loss of more than $112 million which is a milestone for the company, as it is its first ever full-year loss.

Not much of a surprise for those who attended the 2009 Lyra Symposium - Sharp did not bode well, receiving a "D" on their Vendor Report Card, for their lack-luster earning trend.

Sharp is the world's No.3 maker of LCD TVs behind Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) and Sony Corp (6758.T).

Sharp had forecast an operating profit of 195 billion yen at the start of the financial year, which it cut to 130 billion yen in October as cellphone sales weakened. It reported an operating profit of 183.7 billion yen for the previous business year.

Panasonic to Cut 15,000 Jobs

Japanese electronics giant Panasonic is to cut 15,000 jobs worldwide and close 27 plants. The job cuts amount to 5% of its 300,000-strong global workforce.

"The company's business conditions have worsened particularly since last October, due mainly to the rapid appreciation of the yen, sluggish consumer spending worldwide and ever intensified price competition," a company statement said.

Panasonic now projecting a net loss of 380 billion yen or $4.2 billion for the year ending March 31, rather than the 30 billion yen profit it forecast on Nov. 27.

New York University to Award Vyomesh Joshi 2009 Prism Award

NEW YORK, January 28, 2009 — New York University today named Vyomesh (VJ) Joshi, Executive Vice President of the Imaging and Printing Group at HP, the winner of the 2009 Prism Award. The Prism Award is presented annually in recognition of distinguished leadership in the graphic arts and communications industry.

Sponsored by NYU’s Master of Arts in Graphic Communications Management and Technology Program, the 2009 Prism Award will be presented to Mr. Joshi during the 24th Annual Prism Award Luncheon on Wednesday, June 24th in New York City. This year’s ceremony will be held at the historical Gotham Hall located at 36th Street and Broadway.

Previous NYU Prism Award recipients include: Cathleen Black, president of Hearst Magazines; Richard M. Smith, chairman, editor-in-chief and CEO for editorial and business operations of Newsweek; Antonio M. Perez, president and CEO of Eastman Kodak Company; Anne M. Mulcahy, chairman and CEO of Xerox Corporation; William L. Davis, chairman, CEO and president of R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company; Henri Dyner, president and CEO of Sun Chemical Corporation; Janet L. Robinson, president and general manager of The New York Times; and Katharine Graham, chairman and CEO of The Washington Post.

Laura Reid, vice president of Hearst Publishing, and Terry A. Tevis, president of T.A. Tevis & Co. LLC., are co-chairpersons of this year’s Prism Committee. Mr. Tevis also serves as a co-chair of the NYU GCMT program’s board of directors, an advisory body comprising industry executives from leading companies in the graphic communications field.

The proceeds of the Prism Award Luncheon help fund student scholarships as well as student and program support for New York University’s internationally renowned Graphic Communications graduate program, which offers curricula to develop the next generation of industry leaders. In 2008, the program won the ESDF Award for Excellence in Education and Innovation in Higher Education.

Since its inception, the Prism Award Luncheon has raised millions of dollars for education.

The Graphic Communications graduate program is based within the NYU School of Continuing and Professional Studies (www.scps.nyu.edu/gcmt). As one of the University’s 15 colleges and schools, NYU SCPS has for over 70 years focused on creating applied professional programs for people who are already in the workforce. In addition to the Graphic Communications Management and Technology program, the school offers industry-focused Master’s degrees in areas such as publishing, direct marketing, public relations, fundraising, human resources management, real estate, construction management, hospitality industry studies, tourism and travel management, and sports management.

Tickets for the June 24th Prism Award Luncheon are available from $750 per person to $6,000 for a Sponsor’s Table of eight, and $10,000 for a Co-Chairmanship (which includes a dais seat as well as a table of eight). Reservations and additional information are available from the NYU SCPS’s Office of Special Events. Please contact Anna Condoulis at 212‑998‑7003, by fax at 212‑995‑4130, or by e-mail at ac5@nyu.edu.

Canon U.S.A. Announces Acquisition of Its Direct Consulting Business by CIBER, Inc.

(BUSINESS WIRE) -- Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging, announced that, effective today, CIBER, Inc. has acquired Canon Technology Solutions, Inc. (CTS), which was a subsidiary of Canon U.S.A., Inc.

CTS has been providing advanced technology solutions and consulting to organizations since 1985.

From the CTS site -

Canon Technology Solutions, Inc., a subsidiary of Canon U.S.A., Inc., has been an innovative leader in providing advanced technology solutions and consulting to organizations since 1985. Our mission is to help leading corporations create and sustain competitive advantage, empower their employees to achieve ever increasing levels of productivity and accomplishment, and to transform their critical business operations in order to achieve superior levels of performance through the intelligent application of enabling technologies.

"The integration of CTS with CIBER ITO will further expand our capabilities and scale in our managed services and IT outsourcing delivery footprint and will add customized content management solutions to our portfolio," said Mark Perlstein, ITO President. "CIBER and CTS clients will benefit from our commitment to strengthening our existing offerings and adding complementary innovative solutions that will service their unique needs."

Based in Greenwood Village, Colo., the company’s(CIBER, Inc.) consultants now serve client businesses from 60 U.S., 25 European offices and seven offices in Asia.

Operating in 18 countries, with 8,500 employees and annual revenue of approximately $1.2 billion , CIBER’s IT specialists continuously build and upgrade our clients’ systems to “competitive advantage status.” CIBER is included in the Russell 2000 Index and the S&P Small Cap 600 Index.

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What does this mean?

Canon could be shedding costs and making room for

Nature does not like a vacuum -

TallyGenicom Opens Another Chapter - Chapter 11

TallyGenicom files for Chapter 11, assets to be acquired by Printronix, Inc.

TallyGenicom announced last week that it has filed a voluntary petition for protection under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

The Company’s filing was instituted in order to effectuate the sale of certain U.S.-based assets of TallyGenicom.

As part of its filing, TallyGenicom will be seeking Court approval to name Printronix Inc., as the lead bidder in the auction process.

TallyGenicom CEO Dan Adragna said, “After working our advisors, investors and lenders to explore a number of alternatives, we have made the strategic decision to pursue a Chapter 11 filing in order to effectuate a sale of certain of the company’s U.S.-based assets,”

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Panasonic - Color, color MFP's Do Not Stop a 3.9 Billion Dollar Slide

Panasonic/Matsushita provided the rumor mill even more reason to suggest that Panasonic may get out of the copier market all together.

Rueters reports Panasonic Corp (6752.T) will report a consolidated net loss after tax of about 350 billion yen ($3.89 billion) in fiscal 2008/09 due to restructuring charges and weak sales of consumer electronics.

This will be Panasonic's first loss in six years, and the biggest since the firm posted a 430 billion yen net loss for the business year that ended in March 2002.

Interestingly, at last week's 2009 Lyra Symposium, Panasonic did not make the roster of copier companies analyzed.

It is not known how much the copier side of Panasonic contributed to the loss.