When it was first established in 1918 the company was known as Matsushita Electric Housewares Manufacturing Works, which was changed to Matsushita Electric Manufacturing Works in 1929 and while the company used the National and Panasonic brand names over a long period, it decided in 2003 to unify its global brand to Panasonic with the brand slogan "Panasonic ideas for life."

With this name change and brand unification, the Panasonic Corporation will also celebrate its 90th anniversary this year.

In April company profits soared more than 160 per cent in the January-March quarter, lifted by robust sales of mobile phones, flat-panel TVs and DVD players and the company said it aimed to reach a group net profit of 310 billion yen in the current fiscal year through March 2009.