Sharp to Restructure in Effort to Boost Brand
August 22 2016 - 1:40AM
Dow Jones News
TOKYO—Sharp Corp. will implement a large-scale corporate
restructuring to achieve profitability, with the hope of restoring
the brand's image as a global provider of innovative consumer
electronics, the company's new chief executive said Monday.
"My mission as the leader of Sharp is to turn around this
company without any further delay," said Tai Jeng-wu, who became
CEO as part of the takeover by Taiwan's Foxconn Technology
Group.
Mr. Tai, Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou's right-hand man, took over
from Kozo Takahashi when the ¥ 388.8 billion ($3.9 billion) deal to
take more than a 60% stake in Sharp closed this month.
Mr. Gou said in April that he had pursued ownership of Sharp
because of the Osaka-based company's record of innovative products,
such as microwaves and air-purifiers, in addition to the fact that
Sharp is a major display-panel provider for Apple Inc.'s iPhone and
iPad.
On Monday, Mr. Tai said the company would invest aggressively in
research and development and that Foxconn would provide support for
component-procurement and manufacturing.
Mr. Tai also said a restructuring is necessary and would include
cutting Sharp's workforce. Mr. Gou has repeatedly said there would
be layoffs, and Sharp executives said previously that they would
number in the thousands and mainly be at overseas locations.
Sharp fell into deep financial trouble a few years ago as it
began to rely on the display-panel business, which is volatile
because of the rapidly changing smartphone landscape. Before it
sought to sell itself, Sharp had sold rights and assets, including
the right to sell consumer electronics with the company's brand
name.
Mr. Tai said he hopes to cancel such licensing deals to prop up
the value of Sharp's brand.
"We want to polish Sharp's brand value by ourselves and make it
shine globally," he said.
Write to Takashi Mochizuki at takashi.mochizuki@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 22, 2016 01:25 ET (05:25 GMT)
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