AFP, Chiba :
Toshiba’s president Tuesday apologised “sincerely” over the $18-billion sale of its prized memory chip business, as shareholders demanded answers over the deal seen as pivotal to the survival of one of Japan’s best-known firms.
Bowing deeply at the start of what was expected to be a stormy shareholders’ meeting, Satoshi Tsunakawa said: “We sincerely apologise for causing problems and worry.”
The meeting just outside Tokyo came after the company last month announced the sale to a consortium led by US investor Bain Capital-which includes US tech giants Apple and Dell as well as South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix- after months of wrangling.
Shareholders will vote later Tuesday on the deal which is crucial for the cash-strapped company to plug massive losses at its US nuclear division, Westinghouse Electric.
Tsunakawa pledged to finish the sale by the end of March 2018 and stressed: “We will continue to have honest management, and improve our internal governance.”
The chip unit brought in around a quarter of Toshiba’s total annual revenue and is the crown jewel in a vast range of businesses ranging from home appliances to nuclear reactors.
Toshiba narrowly averted a delisting this year, but it still faces the humiliating prospect of being yanked from Japan’s premier stock exchange if the sale does not raise enough money.
Toshiba stock is down about 25 percent since the Westinghouse losses came to light in late December at the world’s number-two chipmaker behind Samsung.
And some investors had doubts about whether things would change at Toshiba, which was recovering from a 2015 accounting scandal when the huge US losses were made public.
Toshiba’s president Tuesday apologised “sincerely” over the $18-billion sale of its prized memory chip business, as shareholders demanded answers over the deal seen as pivotal to the survival of one of Japan’s best-known firms.
Bowing deeply at the start of what was expected to be a stormy shareholders’ meeting, Satoshi Tsunakawa said: “We sincerely apologise for causing problems and worry.”
The meeting just outside Tokyo came after the company last month announced the sale to a consortium led by US investor Bain Capital-which includes US tech giants Apple and Dell as well as South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix- after months of wrangling.
Shareholders will vote later Tuesday on the deal which is crucial for the cash-strapped company to plug massive losses at its US nuclear division, Westinghouse Electric.
Tsunakawa pledged to finish the sale by the end of March 2018 and stressed: “We will continue to have honest management, and improve our internal governance.”
The chip unit brought in around a quarter of Toshiba’s total annual revenue and is the crown jewel in a vast range of businesses ranging from home appliances to nuclear reactors.
Toshiba narrowly averted a delisting this year, but it still faces the humiliating prospect of being yanked from Japan’s premier stock exchange if the sale does not raise enough money.
Toshiba stock is down about 25 percent since the Westinghouse losses came to light in late December at the world’s number-two chipmaker behind Samsung.
And some investors had doubts about whether things would change at Toshiba, which was recovering from a 2015 accounting scandal when the huge US losses were made public.
