Last week Sony announced they were consolidating their studios into a single worldwide publishing entity, this week they've announced plans to cut 10,000 jobs and close 11 factories by March 2008.

The reasoning? Profit. With a stock that has slipped 66 percent since 2000, changes had to be made. No word on which branches of Sony the cuts are coming from, but with the recent game studio consolidation, some of the fat could certainly be getting trimmed.

Sony Corporation to Axe 10,000 Jobs [Games Industry]