Sony CEO Among 40 Execs To Give Up Bonuses As Company Struggles

Approximately 40 Sony senior executives are voluntarily taking a pay cut as the company’s profits continue to suffer.

Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai is just one of many top company executives forgoing an annual bonus for the 2012 fiscal year, according to company spokesperson Elizabeth Boukis.

The decision was made “in support of the electronics business,” Boukis wrote in an email to The Huffington Post. The company’s main electronics business did not see profits for a second consecutive year, Bloomberg News reports.

The executives’ bonuses were valued at up to 50 percent of their annual pay, according to Bloomberg. Hirai already suffered a 24 percent pay cut last summer, earning just $1.45 million in salary, benefits and stock options, the Wall Street Journal reports.

To put Hirai's frugal salary in perspective, Apple CEO Tim Cook was set up with $378 million in compensation in 2011 and earned a $4.2 million pay package in 2012.

The maker of the PlayStation reported a $115 million quarterly loss in February, as the company struggles to catch up to rivals like Apple and Samsung, CBS Moneywatch reports. The company’s latest earnings report is scheduled for next week.

Sony executives' voluntary pay cut appears to be part of a company-wide trend. Last year, seven top Sony officials declined their bonuses, according to the Raw Story.

The electronics maker is not alone in allowing disappointing results to be reflected in the take-home pay of top executives. In April, former J.C. Penney CEO Ron Johnson suffered a 97 percent pay cut as the retailer reported a significant operating loss on the year. Johnson has since been ousted at CEO and replaced by his predecessor, Mike Ullman.

Similarly, Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins gave up his bonus in February, valued at up to $4.35 million, after the scandal-ridden bank suffered a number of high-profile missteps.

Other tech companies appear to not be as frugal as Sony when it comes to executive pay, however. Oracle actually increased CEO Larry Ellison's 2012 pay package by 24 percent, to $96.2 million, despite his company's shares falling by 23 percent during the same period.