South Korea’s LG Display Co Ltd on Tuesday announced a voluntary redundancy programme for its domestic production line employees amid mounting financial losses.

News of the possible job cuts came a day after the company, which supplies display screens to Apple, announced Chief Executive Han Sang-beom had stepped down following an emergency board meeting.

The company did not put a figure on how many of its around 23,000 South Korean production line workers it hoped would take up its offer.

LG Display has been struggling with a global supply glut in liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) used in television sets, which has pushed down prices.

The South Korean company is shifting its mainstay liquid LCD business toward next-generation organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels, which cost massive investment, as the LCD panel industry is crowded with Chinese rivals.

A company spokeswoman, Jean Lee, said the cuts were part of an emergency plan to increase cost efficiencies in panel production as well as other expenses.

LG Display said it planned to take voluntary redundancy applications from Korean workers who had been at the company five years or more over the next few weeks. The company has 59,000 employees globally, including in China.

Source : Reuters