A spokesman for Toshiba hinted that the company may withdraw from the LCD production business. At a results briefing on January 29th, corporate senior executive VP Fumio Muraoka stated that the company was examining all options, including "withdrawal from the business" to stem increasing losses. He cited shrinking demand, price decline, and the strong yen as reasons for the trouble.
Toshiba Mobile Display Co. Ltd., the company’s LCD business unit, posted an operating loss of 19.1 billion yen (approximately $211 million) during the period from April to December 2009, the first nine months of the company’s current fiscal year. This follows losses of 16.2 billion yen ($179 million) and 10 billion yen ($110.7 million) for the same period in 2008 and 2007.
The LCD unit was originally a joint venture with Panasonic. Toshiba bought out Panasonic’s 40 percent stake and changed the name to Toshiba Mobile Display Co. Ltd. in March 2009.
Shares of Toshiba stock fell six percent on the Tokyo Stock exchange in late trading Friday, after the company announced it was revising its revenue forecast downward 5.9 percent from 6.8 trillion yen to 6.4 trillion yen.
