Toshiba to Use Biggest Crisis for Profit-Building Overhaul

The biggest crisis in Toshiba Corp.’s 140-year history gives President Masashi Muromachi an opportunity to push through painful reforms from layoffs to business closures, accelerating the industrial conglomerate’s move away from consumer electronics.

Revelations that management was complicit in padding profits for almost seven years have cost the Japanese household brand 40 percent of its value and resulted in a record fine. Muromachi now plans to announce as soon as next week far-reaching changes that may encompass selling the personal computer and appliance businesses -- money-losing divisions the company long refused to abandon.