Consumer electronics giant Philips has said it will cut 6,000 jobs from its global workforce after a rare quarterly loss.
Europe's largest electronics group posted a loss of €1.47 billion (£1.38 billion) in the final quarter of 2008.
And the Amsterdam-based firm said it had no choice but to restructure its workforce due to the ongoing global economic crisis.
On Monday it also announced a writedown of €1.3 billion through its stakes in NXP Semiconductors, LG Display and the acquisition of Lumileds.
Only strong sales and earnings in its healthcare division saved Philips from the sort of heavy losses experienced by its rivals.
"The development of our quarterly results reflects the unprecedented speed and ferocity with which the economy softened in 2008," said chief executive Gerard Kleisterlee.
Digg 
Delicious 
Reddit 
StumbleUpon 
Google 
Technorati 
Netvouz