Pioneer to stop making its own plasma panels
Last Updated: Friday, March 7, 2008 | 2:35 PM ET
The Associated Press
Pioneer Corp. will stop making plasma display panels in an effort to turn around its money-losing business, the Japanese electronics maker said Friday.
Pioneer plans to procure the panels, used in flat-panel TVs, from another company. It said it was in talks with Japanese rival Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., which makes Panasonic products, to purchase plasma display panels.
Pioneer used to be one of the leading developers of the technology but has fallen behind bigger companies like Matsushita and South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc.
"We have judged that maintaining the cost competitiveness of plasma display panels, or PDPs, at projected sales volumes will be difficult going forward," Pioneer said in a statement.
Pioneer is sinking into the red for the fiscal year ending March 31, racking up a 15 billion yen ($142.9 million Cdn.) loss for charges for restructuring its PDP TV business. It had previously forecast a 6 billion yen ($57 million Cdn.) profit.
The decision to pull out of plasma TV panel production will chalk up a one-time cost of 19 billion yen ($181.1 million Cdn.). But Pioneer said it will return to profit for the fiscal year ending March 2010.
High-end focus failed to reach consumers: analyst
J.P. Morgan analyst Yoshiharu Izumi said Pioneer's strategy to focus on high-end electronics products, which he dubbed "the Gucci approach," largely failed because consumers weren't willing to pay a premium for such products.
Last year, Pioneer announced a capital and operations partnership with another electronics maker, Sharp Corp., for Pioneer to procure Sharp's liquid crystal displays — the other major technology for flat TVs.
Pioneer said that partnership was going well. Pioneer is helping develop acoustic systems for new flat TVs, and will launch new LCD TVs in Europe this fall and steadily expand its lineup, the company said. Pioneer and Sharp will also work together on Blu-ray disc recorders and players, it said.
Pioneer's decision is just the latest shake-up in Japan's flat-panel business.
Last month, Sony Corp. and Sharp said they are partnering, with Sony investing in a Sharp plant for making liquid crystal displays. Sony already buys LCD panels from Samsung, and the deal with Sharp was on top of that.
In December, Matsushita, Hitachi Ltd. and Canon Inc. announced a deal in their liquid crystal display businesses, shortly after Toshiba Corp. said it will team up with Sharp to buy LCD panels for Toshiba flat-panel TVs.
Share Tools
Top News Headlines
- Air Canada confident it can reach deal with pilots
- Travellers flying Air Canada can keep booking their flights as negotiations continue with a new federally appointed mediator to help resolve an ongoing contract dispute between the airline and its pilots. more »
- Legalize pot, say former B.C. attorneys general
- Four former B.C. attorneys general are joining a coalition of health and justice experts calling for the legalization of marijuana. more »
- Whitney Houston's funeral to be held Saturday
- Pop star Whitney Houston's funeral service will be held Saturday in the New Jersey church where she first showcased her singing talents as a child. more »
- CN blamed for fatal train derailment in Illinois
- CN is being blamed for a 2009 train derailment in Illinois, in which several cars went off the tracks and caught fire, killing one person and injuring seven others. more »
Latest Technology & Science News Headlines
- New iPad anticipated in March
- The latest version of Apple's iPad tablet will launch in early March, according to blog and media reports this week. more »
- Higgs boson hunt aided by energy boost
- The world's largest particle accelerator is ramping up its beam energy in hopes that scientists will learn definitively this year whether the last undiscovered particle in the Standard Model of Physics exists. more »
- Nortel hit by suspected Chinese cyberattacks for a decade
- Hackers based in China enjoyed widespread access to Nortel's computer network for nearly a decade, according to a report. more »
- U.S. weighs steep nuclear arms cuts
- The Obama administration is weighing options for sharp new cuts to the U.S. nuclear force, including a reduction of up to 80 per cent in the number of deployed weapons, The Associated Press has learned. more »
Bob McDonald's Blog
Glacier Discovery Walk: Will the visitor centre enhance the view? Feb. 14, 2012 9:22 AM Environment minister Peter Kent has announced the construction of a new Glacier Discovery Walk and visitor centre on the Icefields Parkway in Jasper National Park. It raises the issue of how to balance commercial development in our National Parks against the preservation of the last refuges of wilderness.
Quirks & Quarks
- February 11: Inside the Mind of a Neandertal Feb. 10, 2012 4:01 PM Can we get inside the mind of a species that's been dead for 30,000 years? A new book, How to Think Like a Neanderthal, suggests we can. The authors reconstruct a creature like us in many ways, but with important differences.
Latest Features
- Online surveillance critics accused of supporting child porn
- Whitney Houston's funeral to be held Saturday
- HMCS Corner Brook collision damage extensive
- Online surveillance bill targets child porn: Toews
- Legalize pot, say former B.C. attorneys general
- Mooning Queen proves costly for Australian man
- MacKay says submarine fleet has 'spotty' history
- Man kidnapped at Greyhound station escapes captors
- Stanley Cup rioter seen in brick attack on cop
