Panasonic CEO Attacks Sprawl in Bid for Profit: Tech
This article is for subscribers only.
In its 95-year history, Panasonic Corp. has grown into a consumer-electronics giant producing everything from TVs to eyelash curlers. New President Kazuhiro Tsuga is deciding what it can’t afford to make any more.
Next month, the head of the company that lost more than 1.3 trillion yen ($14.1 billion) since April 2011 will explain which products he wants consigned to Panasonic’s past. He plans to cut the number of business units by a third to focus on those offering the best profit margins, such as little-known operations like beauty appliances and welding machinery, rather than relying on lower-margin products like TVs and cell phones.