Toshiba Corporation recently announced that it will hold Dynabook Inc. Sharp got 19.9% of the issued shares later. After the completion of the relevant transaction, Dynabook will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sharp. Prior to this, Toshiba and Sharp signed the terms of a stock purchase agreement in June 2018, and Toshiba allocated 80.1% of its notebook business (Toshiba Client Solutions Co., Ltd, TCS for short, which was Toshiba’s wholly-owned assets). Sharp got the issued shares, and the deal was over in October 2018. So now, we can say Toshiba officially leaves the notebook market.
After the completion of the transaction between Toshiba and Sharp in 2018, TCS changed its name to Dynabook in January 2019. According to the stock transfer agreement at the time, Sharp exercised its subscription rights to the remaining outstanding shares of Dynabook held by Toshiba on June 30, 2020, and Toshiba has completed its transfer procedures.
Toshiba brand launched consumer laptop products as early as 1985. The first laptop product was T1100 (also the world’s first laptop). It came with a built-in rechargeable battery, an LCD monitor, and Microsoft-based BIOS, based on Intel’s 80C88 processing. It had 256Kb memory and 640×200 pixel screen. Before brands such as Asus, Dell, Apple, Lenovo, and Hewlett-Packard entered the notebook computer market, the company ruled this niche. Later, after the aforementioned brands entered the market, users still recognized Toshiba for its Satellite series products. Subsequently, Toshiba also launched the Portege series of ultrabook products.
Gizchina News of the week
However, with other brands launching thinner and more powerful notebook computers, coupled with the shrinking of the personal computer market, Toshiba could not meet the needs of consumers and eventually became a less popular brand in the notebook market.
Why This Happened?
In 2015, with the exposure of the ‘False Accounting’ scandal, 8 of the 16 Toshiba board members resigned, including the CEO Hisao Tanaka. Subsequently, Westinghouse Electric Company, the US nuclear engineering group that went bankrupt last year, has been sold by its owner Toshiba to Canadian asset manager Brookfield in a $4.6 billion deal. This pushed Toshiba to the edge of a cliff that might be delisted by the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
Also Read: Will Acquisition Of Toshiba Pc Business Regain Sharp’s Place In Pc Market?
In order to solve the financial dilemma, Toshiba has conducted a series of sales of its business units, including the sale of TV business to Hisense Group, the sale of white goods business to Chinese household appliance giant Midea Group. Bain Capital, one of the world’s leading multi-asset alternative investment firms retained only 40% of its shares.
