SK On to cut jobs for first time amid sustained EV weakness

SK On Co., the world’s fifth-largest electric vehicle battery maker, plans to cut its workforce with the company’s first voluntary retirement scheme since its launch as it continues to struggle amid sustained weakness in the global EV industry.

SK On will offer the early retirement program for all employees who joined the company before November 2023, according to industry sources on Thursday. The company is set to provide 50% of annual salaries and short-term incentives to applicants of the scheme.

The subsidiary of South Korea’s top energy company SK Innovation Co. reported a record quarterly operating loss of 460.1 billion won ($346.3 million) in the April-June period, extending its losing streak to 11 straight quarters.

The supplier to EVs by South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp., as well as US Ford Motor Co., has suffered amid the falling runs of global battery factories and rising fixed costs from the operations of its new plant in Hungary.

COST CUTS

SK On has taken various measures to cut expenses such as requiring executives to take economizing classes for overseas business trips. The company has also decided to freeze the salaries of all executives until it turns to the black.

SK On aims to report a profit from the battery business in the second half, excluding earnings from SK Trading International Co., the parent’s oil and petroleum product trading unit, with which the battery manufacturer will merge.

For the profit target, SK On plans to manufacture batteries for Hyundai and Kia’s EV models on the production line for Ford’s EVs at its plant in the US state of Georgia.

Those batteries will be supplied to the world’s third-largest automaker’s US EV hub in Bryan County, which is scheduled to start operations next month.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.