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  • Panasonic buys Sanyo, becomes Japan's biggest electronics company

    Serkan Toto

    Dr. Serkan Toto is an independent consultant and advisor focusing on Japan’s web, mobile and social gaming industries. Based in Tokyo, he works together with financial institutions and startups worldwide. Serkan has been the Japan contributor for TechCrunch.com since 2008. He is sept-lingual, holds an MBA and is a PhD in economics. → Learn More

    Monday, November 3rd, 2008

    Japanese electronics giant Sanyo has been in troubled waters for quite some time now so that the rumors that came up in the last days about the company taken over by Panasonic weren’t too surprising. But the speed of the transaction can surely be called unusual.

    Japan’s biggest news daily The Nikkei is reporting today Panasonic President Fumio Ohtsubo and his Sanyo counterpart, Seiichiro Sano, have come to an agreement to let Panasonic acquire Sanyo and turn it into a subsidiary as early as next April, the beginning of the Japanese fiscal year.

    The agreement marks the first M&A between major Japanese electronics manufacturers in Nippon’s history, resulting in the country’s biggest electronics company. Panasonic said the Sanyo brand will not be given up. The combined sales of both companies for this fiscal year are projected to reach $113 billion, surpassing Hitachi’s (the current leader’s) sales of $110 billion.

    Via Nikkei [registration required, paid subscription]

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