Troubled Japanese conglomerate Sanyo has asked its own employees to open their wallets and buy the company's products, CNET reports. Sanyo this week reported a $170m loss for Q4 2004 and is still smarting from an October earthquake which forced closure of its chip facilities.

Accordingly, it wants execs to shell out a cool $20,000 each, while front-line troops are expected to contribute a modest $2,000 to the fighting fund. While this will doubtless shock employees worldwide who expected the flow of funds to be in the other direction, we at El Reg are well accustomed to the traditional Vulture Central "Xmas Box" scheme in which grateful hacks contribute hard-earned wonga to a hearty lunch for our tireless Strategy Boutique. ®

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