Panasonic said Friday its net loss reached $7.5 billion in the year to March on falling demand, but pledged it would return to profit by next March. The struggling electronics giant logged a 754.25 billion yen ($7.5 billion) net loss over the year to March, slightly trimming a 772.17 billion yen net loss seen in the previous year, one of the worst-ever losses for a non-financial Japanese firm.

Struggling Japanese electronics giant Sony on Thursday said it booked its first annual net profit in five years, offering a glimmer of hope for the once-iconic firm. Sony said it earned 43.03 billion yen ($436.08 million) for the fiscal year to March, reversing a whopping loss of 456.66 billion yen a year earlier, as a sharply weaker yen helped boost Japanese exporters' competitiveness and inflated the value of their foreign income.

Shares in struggling Japanese electronics maker Sharp jumped more than seven percent Friday after a report it will cut an extra 5,000 jobs. The issue was up 7.56 percent at 455 yen on the Tokyo Stock Exchange in early trade following the report in the mass circulation Asahi Shimbun. Sharp's three-year business plan, due to be announced next week, was likely to include a further slimming of the workforce, mainly outside of Japan, the paper said. The company has already cut thousands of jobs worldwide.

Despite rules requiring US flyers to turn off their phones and other electronic devices, many people leave them on, a survey showed Thursday. The survey released by the Airline Passenger Experience Association and the Consumer Electronics Association suggests US regulators could ease the ban, which assumes that electronic devices could interfere with navigation equipment. The survey found 30 percent of passengers accidentally left an electronic device turned on during a flight, even though they are required to turn them off during takeoff and landing.