Sharp Corp. agreed on Thursday February 25,2016 to a 489 billion yen ($4.4 billion)
takeover by Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., also known as
Foxconn, becoming the first major Japanese electronics maker to be
acquired by a foreign company.
Under the agreement, Foxconn will gain a 66% stake in the
company. Sharp was considering both Foxconn’s bid and an offer from a
Japanese government-backed consortium of Japanese investors.
Sharp had its beginnings as a Tokyo-based metalworking shop in 1912. It
later made its fame with Aquos flat-panel TVs and nifty
Internet-connecting cell phones, long before the arrival of iPhones in
Japan.
But its finances deteriorated in recent years as prices of LCD panels
dropped, and it could not beat competition from Asian rivals.
Analysts say Sharp’s future remains uncertain even with the takeover
because of challenges in restructuring its consumer electronics
operations.
Sharp suffered a 108 billion yen ($964 million) loss over the nine
months through December. It has not released a full year profit or loss
forecast.
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