{"id":410966,"date":"2022-03-01T13:57:48","date_gmt":"2022-03-01T10:57:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/toshiba-japans-troubled-megacorp\/"},"modified":"2022-03-01T13:57:48","modified_gmt":"2022-03-01T10:57:48","slug":"toshiba-japans-troubled-megacorp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/toshiba-japans-troubled-megacorp\/","title":{"rendered":"#Toshiba: Japan’s troubled megacorp"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Toshiba: Japan’s troubled megacorp<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\n \"Japanese
\n Japanese industrial group Toshiba dates back to 1875 and has faced turmoil in recent years.
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Once a symbol of Japan’s advanced technology<\/a> and economic power, Toshiba has been rocked by turbulence in recent years.<\/p>\n

The industrial giant dates back to 1875 when its forerunner, a telegraph factory, operated in central Tokyo.<\/p>\n

During Japan’s 1980s tech boom it grew into a vast conglomerate, with businesses ranging from escalators and chip-manufacturing equipment to laptops and nuclear plants.<\/p>\n

Here AFP charts Toshiba’s recent highs and lows:<\/p>\n

2015: Profit-padding scandal<\/b><\/p>\n

Toshiba withdraws its earnings forecast in May, citing accounting problems on several infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n

An external panel finds that high-level Toshiba staff “systematically” inflated profits by $1.2 billion between 2008 and 2014, pressuring underlings to cover up weak results.<\/p>\n

The company president and other top executives resign over the ballooning scandal, as shares tank and thousands of jobs are cut.<\/p>\n

2016: Asset sell-offs<\/b><\/p>\n

The scandal hits Toshiba at a weak point after the 2008 financial crisis and 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, which dealt a blow to its key atomic power division.<\/p>\n

In a scramble to recover, the company sheds businesses, but still suffers a record net loss of around $4.4 billion for the 2015-16 financial year.<\/p>\n

2017: Westinghouse goes bust<\/b><\/p>\n

Toshiba’s US nuclear subsidiary Westinghouse Electric, whose tech is used in around half the world’s atomic reactors, goes bankrupt, largely owing to delays and cost overruns.<\/p>\n

Strapp<\/a>ed for cash, Toshiba is forced to try to sell part of the family silver\u2014its memory chip business, which accounts for around a quarter of annual revenue.<\/p>\n

The conglomerate posts a net loss of $8.8 billion in 2016\/17 as it faces the humiliating threat of being delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE).<\/p>\n

It raises $5.3 billion in new capital with foreign activist investors rushing in, but is demoted to the TSE’s second section.<\/p>\n

2018: Mega-sale of Toshiba Memory<\/b><\/p>\n

After months of complications, the $21-billion sale of prized chip unit Toshiba Memory to a group led by US investor Bain Capital is completed.<\/p>\n

Toshiba retains a 40 percent stake in the chip business, which is renamed Kioxia.<\/p>\n

The deal is seen as crucial to keeping Toshiba afloat, even as the firm says it has bounced back into the black by ceding assets and debts related to Westinghouse.<\/p>\n

2019-2020: Shareholder pressure<\/b><\/p>\n

Toshiba works on its financial woes and strengthens its governance, with a board composed of mostly external directors.<\/p>\n

But the group faces pressure from activist shareholders who want to see faster growth and a clearer long-term strategy.<\/p>\n

The crisis comes to a head after the 2020 annual general<\/a> meeting, as some shareholders call for an independent inquiry into vote irregularities.<\/p>\n

2021: Buyout offer<\/b><\/p>\n

Having won a return to the TSE’s first section, Toshiba says it has received a takeover offer from private equity fund CVC Capital Partners.<\/p>\n

In a shock move, CEO Nobuaki Kurumatani, who previously worked for CVC, resigns. He insists his decision is not related to the buyout offer, which is later dropped.<\/p>\n

In June, the independent probe into the 2020 AGM finds that the company sought government help to prevent activist investors from exercising their proposal and voting rights.<\/p>\n

Toshiba apologises and removes two directors, but days later, shareholders vote to oust the board’s chairman.<\/p>\n

2022: Spin-off plan<\/b><\/p>\n

Toshiba announces plans in February to spin off its device segment, revising a proposal to split into three companies that was announced in November 2021 but faced stiff opposition from some investors.<\/p>\n

A shareholder vote on the two-way split is set for late March, but on March 1 the conglomerate’s new CEO Satoshi Tsunakawa steps down after less than a year in the job.<\/p>\n

Tsunakawa had spoken out against taking Toshiba private in an interview with Bloomberg News<\/a> the previous day, saying that splitting into two companies remained the best plan.\n <\/p>\n\n

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Toshiba: Japan’s troubled megacorp facing buyout drama\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2022 AFP<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Toshiba: Japan’s troubled megacorp (2022, March 1)
\n retrieved 1 March 2022
\n from https:\/\/techxplore.com\/news\/2022-03-toshiba-japan-megacorp.html<\/p>\n

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