"‘Toshiba, Toshiba, Toshiba in the new era!’ — many Chinese people are familiar with this slogan. Back in the day, Japanese brands like Sony, Toshiba, Hitachi, Sanyo, and Panasonic dominated the global home appliance market. Their advertisements were everywhere, and they were once synonymous with high quality. However, those days have long passed.
On November 14, 2017, Hisense Electric Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Hisense Group, and Toshiba Corporation announced in Tokyo that 95% of the shares of Toshiba Visual Solutions (TVS) had officially been transferred to Hisense. This marked a significant shift in the ownership of one of Japan’s iconic TV brands.
After the transfer, Hisense gained access to Toshiba's TV products, brand, and operational services, along with a 40-year global brand authorization for Toshiba TVs. The equity transfer was valued at approximately 12.9 billion yen (about RMB 798 million). For both Toshiba, which was struggling to survive, and Hisense, a rapidly rising Chinese company, this deal seemed like a perfect match.
Toshiba faced severe financial difficulties after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, which hit its nuclear power business hard. In fiscal year 2015, the company reported a net loss of 483.2 billion yen, its worst in 140 years. To recover, it started selling off assets, closing factories, cutting jobs, and even selling trademarks in Europe and Southeast Asia.
For its imaging business, Toshiba found it difficult to invest further. To maintain the value of TVS, partnering with a financially strong player like Hisense made sense. Hisense, known for its strong operations and capital, was an ideal partner.
For Hisense, acquiring Toshiba’s technology—especially in image chips and algorithms—was a big boost. It helped improve its image quality and strengthen its position in the global TV market. Although Hisense is third globally, behind Samsung and LG, this acquisition could help it close the gap.
This deal was a win-win: combining Toshiba’s legacy with Hisense’s growth potential created a powerful synergy, offering a fresh direction for the TV industry.
Hisense’s overseas acquisitions aren’t new. While investing in R&D is important, buying established foreign brands has allowed Chinese companies to expand their reach quickly and efficiently. In 2005, Hisense acquired a large stake in Kelon, giving it access to multiple brands and boosting its presence in the white goods sector.
In 2015, Hisense bought Sharp’s Mexican plant and TV brand rights in North America. Now, with the Toshiba deal, it continues to expand globally, pushing itself into the top tier of the home appliance industry.
Meanwhile, Toshiba has been selling off assets to survive. It sold its white goods business to Midea, its flash memory unit to a U.S. consortium, and now its TV division to Hisense. If it exits the computer market, its consumer-facing businesses will be almost gone, leaving it focused on upstream industries.
Chinese companies have been acquiring foreign brands for years. Haier bought Sanyo and Fisher & Paykel, while Midea acquired parts of Toshiba’s white goods business. TCL and Skyworth also expanded through acquisitions. These moves show how China is reshaping the global home appliance landscape.
The decline of Japanese home appliances isn’t due to a lack of technology, but rather outdated business models. They struggled to adapt to the digital age, where speed, cost, and innovation matter more than ever. Japanese companies remained rigid, slow to respond to changing consumer trends.
As the home appliance industry matures, profit margins shrink. Many Japanese firms have exited the B2C market, shifting focus to B2B or high-tech sectors. While their brands still hold value, their future may lie in specialized fields rather than mass-market products."
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