Mitsubishi Trims Bonuses

For the first time since Japans last oil shock in the 1980s Mitsubishi Electric Corp. has been forced to pay employees in kind. Managers received a small percentage of their December bonus in coupons for company products. Executives and board members had their bonuses cut 10% to 20%. The reason: nonconsolidated pretax profit for April-September, the first half of the firms 1997 fiscal year, was down 79% from the previous year.