Toshiba, who had survived for more than ten years, finally couldn't hold on and began to sell his property and prepare to separate.
No, the air conditioning business "Toshiba Carrier" was sold for 100 billion yen.
In addition to selling off the branch business, Toshiba also separated the electronic equipment business that has been brilliant for half a century, planning to let the equipment department go public independently, trying to complete self-help by setting up a separate portal.
For many people, the name Toshiba may not even have been heard of, and at first glance it seems to be a niche brand. But before its decline, Toshiba in the field of electronics was on a par with Samsung.
For a long time, Toshiba was the leading boss in the notebook computer industry, and Toshiba's status was equivalent to today's Apple.
It is such a business giant, but now it has fallen to the point of falling apart and needing to sell for life. The Toshiba Empire has come to this step, which can be said to be a typical example of being dragged down by natural disasters and man-made disasters.
Taking advantage of the opportunity of Toshiba's separation, let's review how Toshiba lost its ancestral property step by step.
Time goes back to the last century, and Toshiba, which laid the foundation by military manufacturing during World War II, has both strength and financial resources.
With strong capital and business background, Toshiba has acquired various manufacturing companies to continuously expand its business.
How big was The scope of Toshiba's business in its heyday, from ancestral ordnance manufacturing to civilian incandescent lighting, as long as the market related to current, there must be Toshiba mixing.
For a long time, Toshiba was the representative of Japan's electrical appliance manufacturing industry.
In the middle and late of the last century, Toshiba's medical business, home appliance business, notebook computer business, etc., have occupied the world's top three positions for many years.
Flash memory technology, which replaced disks in the 1980s, was also pioneered by Toshiba.
In the world semiconductor market in the 1980s and 1990s, Toshiba was 50%, and in this position, only Samsung can be called its opponent.
It's only been twenty or thirty years, How come Toshiba and Samsung are one Hedong and one Hexi?
At the beginning, to Lay the foundation for Toshiba was an incident in which smuggling ordnance was exposed.
In the early 1980s, Toshiba secretly sold four advanced submarine CNC propeller milling machines to the Soviet Union, and the propellers made with it could greatly reduce the noise of submarine operation.
The United States positioned soviet nuclear submarines on the basis of the noise generated by the work of the sonar detection propeller.
Toshiba's doing this is equivalent to blinding the Soviet Union to the United States.
As soon as the East Window incident occurred, Japan, as the little brother of the United States, still dared to engage in backstabbing, naturally there was no face to stay in the United States any longer, and at the end of the eighties, Toshiba lost the market in Western countries.
If the consequences of this matter are simply the loss of the Market of Western Countries, it is not a big deal.
However, the United States has been waiting for this door-to-door handle for a long time, and this time it has played a solid role in borrowing the problem, which has made Japan suffer a big dumb loss.
At that time, Toshiba was fighting for its technological leadership and excellent quality in the field of semiconductors, hanging intel and AMD, which were just starting out, and dumping electronic products to the US market.
Especially in the memory chip market, Toshiba once dragged Intel out of a serious financial crisis.
The United States began to be anxious, this can not go on, originally only wanted to cultivate a gun to contain China and the Soviet Union, the result is to be eaten back, and it is too late to do it again.
Therefore, since the 1980s, the United States has made small moves in the open and in the dark.
Frequent censorship, raising import standards, and restricting Japanese exports to the United States. However, due to face, the United States cannot do too much, and can only slow down Japan's pace a little.
In the context of the continuous trade friction between the United States and Japan, it just so happens that Toshiba smuggled ordnance is secret, which is not a sleepy pillow.
With this legitimate excuse, the United States directly put sanctions on the surface, and all Of Toshiba's products have not been sold for nearly 5 years.
After all, smuggling ordnance is also a major matter related to national security, and you Japanese government must not admit a mistake? Here's a "semiconductor treaty" to sign it quickly.
After signing this agreement, all the technology companies in Japan will not want to continue to dump electronic products, not only the US market is not allowed, but the world market is not allowed.
If you want to sell goods, then strictly abide by the "fair pricing" of the United States.
By penalizing Japanese semiconductors that dominate the market, American technology companies finally have a head start.
If it hadn't been for this, there would still be something in Silicon Valley right now. It is also because of this opportunity that Samsung quickly replaced Japan's market share and became the world's first.
Although the sanctions and fines were heavy, Toshiba's vitality had not yet been hurt. What really shook the foundations of the Toshiba Empire was an adventurous acquisition.
Entering the 21st century, the development of science and technology is changing rapidly, many established technology companies in Japan have begun to fall behind, and the direction of business needs to be adjusted urgently. At this stage, Toshiba chose to bet on the direction of nuclear power energy business.
After all, nuclear power is also one of Toshiba's ancestral businesses, and the design and construction of the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant has Toshiba's participation.
For Japan, which is short of resources, nuclear power resources have broad prospects for development, and no matter how you look at it, it is an evergreen cash cow.
The early nuclear power energy track did make a lot of money, and in just a few years, Toshiba was already the largest nuclear power energy company in Japan.
But Toshiba, who is used to being the boss, also does not give up being the first in this field.
At that time, the pioneer of nuclear power was the American Westinghouse Electric Company. Westinghouse not only provided nuclear power technology to U.S. aircraft carriers, but also set the world's nuclear standards.
In 2006, Westinghouse announced that it would auction off a 77 percent stake, and if it could win the auction, it would be equivalent to winning the world's top nuclear technology.
This piece of fat meat in the Westinghouse naturally attracted a lot of wolves.
Mitsubishi and Hitachi, old rivals who are also eyeing the tiger, have repeatedly stumbled during the bidding process, and have raised $2.5 billion all the way to $5 billion.
In addition to competitors in the market, the United States can not let Japan grasp the details of aircraft carrier power. To buy Westinghouse, it's not that simple.
In order to win the Westinghouse, Toshiba frantically threw money and contacts, and even asked the US ambassador to Japan to lobby US lawmakers to prevent them from blocking the acquisition. At the same time, Toshiba also promised that after the acquisition, Westinghouse would be managed autonomously and would not intervene.
In the end, Toshiba completed the acquisition at a triple premium of $5.4 billion and continued to increase the price to $7 billion to acquire 87% of the shares.
After buying Westinghouse, Toshiba began to build reactors around the world, monopolizing the region's power grid, and planning to lie down and count the money for the rest of his life. The acquisition also boosted Toshiba's income from years of stagnation by 30 percent.
However, from the high-priced acquisition of Westinghouse, Toshiba has actually gone downhill.
The $7 billion spent on westinghouse is not a small amount. To make up for this deficit, we must first cut down the less profitable business.
Unfortunately, Toshiba just brought back the funds, catching up with the financial crisis in 2008, the market was sluggish, and most of the business was at a loss.
In business, losing some money is also the norm. With the iron rice bowl of nuclear power, it will not take long to earn it back.
However, before it could be slowed down, the iron rice bowl could not be stopped, and an accident occurred at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. That's right, the nuclear reactor that Toshiba had previously built exploded.
The Fukushima earthquake completely shut down Toshiba's nuclear power business, and the world lost enthusiasm for building nuclear reactors.
Considering the safety of nuclear power energy, Toshiba not only failed to receive new orders, but even the original orders for the construction of nuclear power plants were cancelled.
If you brake on this and change tracks again, Toshiba may still be saved. But Toshiba was unlucky to experience natural disasters and man-made disasters.
The CEO of Toshiba, who chose the direction of nuclear power, refused to accept reality. The nuclear power sector has no business to do, this situation will have to step down sooner or later, rather than confessing the guilt, the CEOs have chosen to make false accounts and whitewash Taiping.
The people at the helm are busy making fake statements, where they can still manage the development of enterprises, and Toshiba has missed the economic recovery after the financial crisis. Other electronics companies are actively seeking a path to transformation, and Toshiba is still as stable as an old dog in the nuclear power industry.
Paper can't contain the fire after all, and in 2015, three consecutive CEOs finally couldn't hide the fake accounts, and at this time, Toshiba's losses were already very serious. If you continue to lose money, sooner or later you will go bankrupt.
In order to continue your life, start selling the bottom. As a result, the new CEO in 2016 sold the healthcare division to Canon for $5 billion.
The $5 billion didn't seem to be enough to fill the hole, and Toshiba sold the image sensor business to Sony one after another, selling 80% of the home appliance business to Midea.
Whether it is profitable or not, the big head business basically sells almost.
But at this time, Toshiba was still obsessed, and he still had to go black in the direction of nuclear power.
As a result, Toshiba's nuclear power business suffered again in 2017, continuing to lose tens of billions of dollars. At the end of the year, Toshiba was insolvent and faced delisting.
Westinghouse, the big Buddha, Toshiba could not afford to supply, and finally packed and sent it away in 2018 for a price of $3.7 billion.
Selling Westinghouse is not enough to pay off the debt, and the only thing that can make up for this debt is the chip department.
This fragrant food, the main content is now renamed Kioxia (Kioxia) flash memory chip, its world market share has always been ranked in the top three, followed by Samsung, and Western Digital on a par with a golden egg hen.
After several battles, Bain Capital finally bought a 49.9% stake in Toshiba's chip business for $18 billion, and Toshiba reversed the delisting in the march 2018 deadline.
Even such an important chip department has taken out to settle the debt, and Toshiba's Laodi basically has nothing left.
In addition to the nuclear power energy business and infrastructure that are firmly grasped, the last thing left is the electronic equipment manufacturing business and the piecemeal equity spun off when the deed of sale is signed.
What prompted Toshiba to split up was a takeover offer from Capital to Toshiba in April last year. The capitalists stared at this piece of fat meat for a long time, waiting for Toshiba to breathe and snatch its last trump card.
Rather than being eaten away by international capital, it is better to reorganize the family and re-emerge with a new identity.
According to the latest official announcement, Toshiba's split and reorganization has confirmed that it will separate the electronic equipment business, including semiconductors, and set up an independent company to be listed.
The flash memory business, which was originally planned to be independent, will be realized in the form of selling shares. As for the elevator business and lighting business, which do not have a strong sense of existence, the sale process is also a matter of certainty.
Perhaps this time the unbundling of electronic equipment and energy can avoid the end of being consumed. Or now that nuclear energy is starting again, it can prove that Toshiba's vision has always been right.
In any case, Toshiba still has a few hole cards in his hand, and if he can find a good track, it is not impossible to return to the top.
However, if the Fallen Empire wants to turn over, it must also ask its competitors if they can be a little more ruthless when they trip.
Author: Xingkun Editor: Noodle Beauty Editor: Huan Yan
Images, sources:
Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily: Toshiba "three points" becomes "two points": semiconductor business divestment and listing Non-core business will be sold
Zhihu: The decline of the Toshiba Empire, the epitome of the Japanese clique
Zhihu: Why haven't there been semiconductor giants like TSMC, Intel, and Samsung in Japan?
Zhihu: Why did Toshiba divest the semiconductor business unit?