Toshiba may spin off its PC business following weak sales

Toshiba may be looking to spin off its PC division, and merge it with that of other computer manufacturers. The company has already stated that it plans to sell part of its semiconductor unit to Sony Corp.

Toshiba is aiming to cut out the least profitable units of its operation after an accounting scandal that occurred earlier this year.

Toshiba’s PC division has a rich history and was responsible for releasing the first commercially available laptop in 1985. Recently though, it has not been able to keep up with the other companies in the PC market.

Toshiba has a 2.3 percent share in the global market for laptops and tablets according to research done by the firm Euromonitor. The company has already stopped making desktops.

The decision comes as no surprise as many Japanese electronics companies have already begun to do similar things. Fujitsu Ltd announced in October that it had plans to spin off its PC business. Both Hitachi Ltd and Sharp Corp. also decided that the consumer market was no longer viable for them. Panasonic has turned its efforts towards the enterprise market and has been producing laptops with businesses in mind.

Talks of Toshiba’s possibly combining their PC division with those of other companies were reported by the Nikkei business daily. The paper suggested that Vaio Corp, formerly part of Sony’s PC division, might be considering absorbing Toshiba’s PC unit.

The rumor was quickly put down by a spokeswoman for Vaio. Toshiba most likely will be spinning off its PC division but the question of how still remains in the air.

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