News On Japan

Japanese giant Toshiba announces breakup plan

Nov 12 (BBC) - Japanese conglomerate Toshiba has confirmed plans to split the company into three separate businesses.

Toshiba said the three companies would be focused on infrastructure, semiconductors and devices.

The company has come under increasing pressure from activist investors to make changes since an accounting scandal in 2015.

This week, US giant General Electric announced a similar strategy that will see the historic company broken up.

Toshiba's plan will see it spin off two core businesses - its energy and infrastructure unit as well as its device and storage operation.

After shedding those two companies, Toshiba will continue to own a 40.6% stake in memory chipmaker Kioxia as well as other assets.

It expects to complete the reorganisation by the second half of 2023.

The move is aimed to increase the stock market valuations of Toshiba's different businesses after facing pressure from shareholders.

But some analysts are concerned about the timescale for the changes.

"The move is in the right direction, but it seems slow," said Atul Goyal of investment bank Jeffries, who would have preferred a timeline of three-to-six months.

"2023 is a long way out and we are not sure what else will change between now and then."

Toshiba is one of Japan's oldest and largest firms, with divisions that range from home electronics to nuclear power stations.

However, the company has faced wrenching changes in recent years as it dealt with the fallout of an accounting scandal and huge losses linked to its US nuclear unit.

Source: ANNnewsCH

News On Japan
POPULAR NEWS

Flooding has reached the temporary housing in Wajima City, built for earthquake victims, and volunteers have begun clearing the mud starting on September 24.

A Japanese government spokesperson says a Russian military airplane entered Japanese airspace three times on Monday. (NHK)

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has conveyed his country's intention to maintain support for Ukraine to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. (NHK)

Seven people are dead in the wake of torrential downpours in Japan's central Ishikawa Prefecture that have caused rivers to flood and mudslides across the Noto region. Some people living in temporary shelters following the New Year's Day earthquake are once again facing recovery efforts, this time from flooding. (NHK)

Signs of winter are already arriving. Mount Rishiri in Hokkaido recorded the first snowfall of the season on Sunday, making it the first observed in Japan this year.

MEDIA CHANNELS
         

MORE Society NEWS

A 39-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of attacking a female university student by covering her head with a bag and attempting to strangle her.

A group of Humboldt penguins at Tokuyama Zoo in Yamaguchi Prefecture has captured people's hearts, as they chase a butterfly that had accidentally flown into their pool enclosure.

A man in his 30s was stabbed in the chest at an anime song event in Saku City, Nagano Prefecture on Sunday, leaving the victim serious injured.

Tokyo has launched an official matchmaking app in an effort to increase the number of marriages, particularly as the city struggles with the lowest birthrate in Japan.

A search for 'breast pump' 「搾乳機」on YouTube returns numerous videos with titles like 'Introduction to Breast Pumping.' But what exactly are these videos?

Four high school students, aged 16 to 18, have been arrested on suspicion of injuring a third-year junior high school boy in a park in Machida City, Tokyo, in May of this year.

A fire broke out at a shrine in Ami-machi, Ibaraki Prefecture, burning a sacred tree over 500 years old, with police investigating the cause as a lightning strike.

A regional headquarters of the Japan Coast Guard has arrested the head of the operating company of a sightseeing boat that sank off the coast of Hokkaido, northern Japan, in 2022. (NHK)