COMPANY TOWN ANNEX

Sony Music Cuts Jobs: The New York-based company, which recently slipped from second to third place in the domestic market share race, issued pink slips Friday to more than four dozen employees at Columbia and Epic Records. According to sources, the cuts were implemented to slash costs and are likely to be followed by small trims in the artist roster in the months ahead. Coincidentally, the move comes one day after news surfaced that Walter Yetnikoff, the colorful 61-year-old record executive whom Sony Music Inc. drove from the helm of its music division five years ago, is about to launch his own label. Yetnikoff was instrumental in orchestrating the $2-billion sale of Columbia and Epic to Sony in 1988.