Sharp Planning to Acquire Toshiba’s PC Biz

June 5, 2018

Tokyo- Sharp Corp. plans to acquire Toshiba Corp.'s personal computer business, possibly for about 5 billion yen, informed sources said Monday.

Through the move, Sharp, which is reconstructing its operations under its parent, major Taiwanese contract electronics manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., hopes to nurture PC operations into a new cash cow, according to the sources.

Specifically, Sharp will acquire an equity stake of over 50 pct in Toshiba Client Solutions Co., which is currently a fully owned unit of Toshiba, the sources said.

It hopes to attract customers by utilizing PC production know-how of Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group, the sources said.

Sharp withdrew from its Mebius brand PC business in 2010, due to a deterioration in profitability. After becoming a Hon Hai unit in 2016, the company began considering restarting PC business.

Toshiba has been studying pulling the plug on its unprofitable PC operations as an option, as part of its structural reforms. "We're in talks with a specific company, but nothing concrete has been decided," a Toshiba official said Monday.

Toshiba's "dynabook" brand, which debuted in the 1980s as the world's first notebook PC series, attracted robust demand in the global market, but the firm's PC business slumped later amid fierce price competition with Chinese and Taiwanese rivals.

Toshiba once held talks with Fujitsu Ltd. <6702> and Vaio Corp., a former Sony Corp. <6758> division, on integrating their PC operations. But the negotiations went nowhere. Jiji Press