Toshiba fulfills the requirements to push the company private and end its 74-year run as a publicly traded company

Over half of Toshiba Corp.’s shareholders have participated in a $15 billion acquisition led by private equity firm Japan Industrial Partners Inc. This fulfills the requirements to privatize the electronics company and bring an end to its 74-year history as a publicly traded company, as reported by Bloomberg.

Toshiba, a company with a history dating back to 1875, has stated that Japan Industrial Partners Inc. (JIP) currently holds 78.65 percent of all its shares. Once a final date is determined, the company will announce it on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). This move marks the conclusion of a challenging decade for the Tokyo-based company, marked by scandals and significant financial losses.

A prolonged auction process left Toshiba, renowned for inventing the first laptop and flash memory, in a state of uncertainty during a year of industry-wide transformation driven by growing interest in artificial intelligence. While negotiations for a merger with Western Digital Corp.’s flash memory division dragged on, Toshiba’s chip subsidiary, Kioxia Holdings Corp., fell further behind market leaders like Samsung Electronics Co. and SK Hynix Inc. Toshiba executives and lenders have expressed that privatization will allow Toshiba to focus on longer-term strategic goals. The company, which produces a range of products including refrigerators, hard disk drives, and nuclear power reactors, has gone through three presidents in three years. Earlier this year, Chief Operating Officer Goro Yanase resigned to take responsibility for inaccurate claims related to entertainment expenses.

Toshiba, once praised for its technological innovations, faced significant challenges, including Japan’s largest-ever fine for financial statement fraud in 2015. Following a failed venture into the nuclear industry, Toshiba incurred a $6.3 billion write-off and had to sell its prized memory-chip division, which is now known as Kioxia Holdings Corp.

Under pressure from activists, Toshiba announced plans to split into three companies in 2021, but this was later revised to a two-way split in 2022. The company’s board began seeking offers to take it private after the top executive at the time resigned to take responsibility for the company’s issues.