Toshiba Corp's board on Friday approved plans to make its core chip business a separate company and seek outside investment in it, aiming to avoid being crippled by an upcoming multi-billion dollar writedown for its US nuclear business.
Toshiba estimates the value of its chip business - the world's biggest NAND flash memory producer after Samsung Electronics - at JPY 1-1.5 trillion ($9-13 billion or roughly Rs. 59,326 crores - Rs. 88,992 crores), a person with direct knowledge of the matter has told Reuters.
The partial sale of its chip business would provide a lifeline for Toshiba as a massive charge could wipe out shareholders equity at the end of the financial year in March.
Toshiba has said it will unveil the size of the writedown on February 14 when it reports third-quarter results.
Potential investors in the chip business include private equity firms as well as business partner Western Digital Corp and the government-backed Development Bank of Japan (DBJ), sources have said.
Toshiba's memory chip business generated sales of JPY 845.6 billion ($7.4 billion or orughly Rs. 50,159 crores) and operating profit of JPY 110 billion for the year ended in March 2016.
© Thomson Reuters 2017
Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.
Apple Watch Series 12
Starts from ₹56,900
Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra 2
Starts from ₹62,479
Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 (44mm, LTE)
Starts from ₹41,999
Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 (40mm, LTE)
Starts from ₹38,999
Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 (40mm)
Starts from ₹36,999
Samsung Galaxy Watch 9 (44mm)
Starts from ₹40,999
Microsoft Announces $50 Xbox Nano Controller, Launch Set for Next Month
Samsung Galaxy A38 5G Rear Camera Specifications Leaked; May Feature Same Sensors as Galaxy A37
Oppo Find X10 Pro Max Confirmed to Launch in India as First Phone With a Triple 200-Megapixel Camera System