Sony is trimming staff from its Honolulu offices in Mapunapuna, with more to come in the next few months as part of an overall corporate restructuring effort.

Seventeen employees took voluntary early retirement deals, effective in June, according to John Dolak, spokesman for Sony. Fourteen more positions will be cut between June 5 and July 1, for a total of 31.

That is almost 45 percent of the 70 workers that Sony had in Hawaii previously.

The company was established here in 1968 by then-company president Akio Morita. Sony Hawaii's current president is Naobumi “;Ned”; Nomura.

Besides consumer products sales, Sony has a regional service office, a factory service center and a regional distribution center at 960 Mapunapuna St.

Sony Hawaii also is a longtime sponsor of the annual Sony Open golf tournament in Hawaii.

In San Diego, Sony Electronics Inc. is cutting 340 positions as part of the restructuring efforts.

Sony Corp., the world's second-largest consumer electronics maker, announced in December it would cut 8,000 jobs worldwide. In March, Sony said it would freeze pay and cut bonuses for its workers in the next fiscal year.