Due to a near-collapse sale of car audio gear and flat-screen TVs, another round of massive layoffs worldwide - 10,000 this time - is on the cards for the Japanese electronics maker, Pioneer Corp! The company had already laid-off 5,900 employees last year.

Regarding the details of the planned layoffs, Pioneer said 6,000 full-time salaried workers, and 4,000 contract workers will be slashed at the company's domestic and foreign plants.

Commenting about the company move off additional layoffs, Pioneer spokeswoman Michiko Kadoi said: "Since the U. S. financial crisis and ensuing global downturn, our sales of car electronics products and flat-screen TVs plunged worldwide. We were severely hit by battered consumer sentiment."

Projecting a 130 billion yen net loss this fiscal year to March, nearly two times the earlier estimated 78 billion yen net loss, Pioneer also intends pulling out from its "extremely painful," loss-making plasma display business, in order to reduce costs further.

The Tokyo-based Pioneer, on the verge of incurring its fifth yearly loss in succession, could somehow never build up a substantial market share in spite of literally being a 'pioneer' with regard to flat-screen televisions.

According to industry figures of the first nine months of last year, Pioneer held a mere 6% share in the global electronics market, as against 37% and 23% respective shares of rivals Panasonic and Samsung. (Rupinder contributed to this report)