Panasonic Axes 15,000 Employees

In addition, Panasonic will shutter 27 global factories, including 13 in Japan.

Panasonic Wednesday forecast a $4.25 billion loss for the fiscal year ending March 31.

"The market had high hopes for the flat TV business, but it now has no competitive edge overseas due to the strong yen and is contributing in a big way to the slump," Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management, told Reuters.

Panasonic also said it has put on hold until July 2010 its plans to open an LCD plant.

Some market analysts believe that the worst may be behind the company.

"The injury to Panasonic is not that deep," Yuuki Sakurai, a fund manager at Fukoku Mutual Life Insurance, told Forbes. "Probably all the bad news for Panasonic is already out."

In reporting such huge losses, the Osaka-based electronics company joins a spate of other Japanese electronics firms hit hard by the harsh economic climate.