Sony to issue bonds, may provide cash to Sony Ericsson

Sony wants to raise $1 billion from capital markets next month by issuing corporate bonds. Analysts said that some of the money raised may be injected into Sony Ericsson, the company's struggling handset joint venture with Ericsson, according to a Dow Jones Newswires report.

Sony said it is issuing the corporate bonds to get more money for investments and to repay part of an existing bond issue that will mature in March 2010. The company declined to provide specifics, or comment on where else it might spend the money.

In a recent Financial Times article, Sony declined to speculate on pushing more money at Sony Ericsson, but indicated it would indeed provide such funds if they became necessary. Further, Ericsson CEO Carl-Henric Svanberg said that a capital injection was "not unlikely."  

Sony Ericsson posted a $386 million net loss for the first quarter and sales fell 36 percent. As a result, the the company said it would cut 2,000 more jobs, or about one-fifth of its workforce.

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