Sony Ericsson moving North American HQ to Atlanta

By Kristi E. Swartz

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Sony Ericsson said Wednesday it is moving its North American headquarters to Atlanta, a company spokeswoman confirmed.

The move could possibly generate 120 jobs, the Business Chronicle said.

Sony Ericsson’s President of Americas Anderson Teixeira will be based in Atlanta, the company said.

Sony said it is moving to Atlanta because the city is home to its biggest customer -- AT&T Mobility.

The news follows a grim report about employment for 2010. Georgia, which has already lost 7.5 percent of its jobs since the end of 2007, will likely shed an additional 60,000 jobs next year, Rajeev Dhawan, director of the Georgia State Economic Forecasting Center, said in a report prepared for the center's quarterly forecasting conference.

Sony told its employees during a company meeting Wednesday, a company spokeswoman confirmed. Sony's North American headquarters is in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

The company said it would close the RTP offices by the third quarter of 2010.

The move would put 400 people out of work. It is part of the company's global consolidation of regional offices that will cut 2,000 jobs companywide, a spokeswoman said.

The company is a joint venture between electronics firm Sony and telecoms equipment maker Ericsson.

The company has 9,000 workers in the U.S. and elsewhere.