Only days after Sharp the biggest shareholder in Pioneer Electronics reported a record loss Pioneer has said it is considering getting out of the flat panel TV market.
The exit from the flat panel TV market is tipped to be announced later this week when the Company reports their latest trading results.
The Company who have the best plasma TV screen in the world with their Kuro offering according to several media publications have seen their shares crash over 85% in recent weeks. The move will be a big blow to the specialist channel say analysts.
According to the Wall Street Journal the comments came following a report in the Nihon Keizai Shimbun business daily that said Pioneer plans to pull out of its television business and split off its DVD-player operations into a joint venture with Sharp.
During the past 18 months the Company has reeled and even prior to the global recession the Company was unable to trade profitable due to the fact that that they were constantly being squeezed by larger competitors that are lowering prices at a pace faster than the company can slash costs.
As consumer spending ground to a halt at the end of last year, Pioneer’s rivals cut prices sharply to prevent an inventory buildup. In its fiscal second quarter, which ended Sept. 30, Pioneer said home-electronics sales fell 30% from a year earlier. The company’s operating loss widened to $76 million.
Pioneer said last year it would stop making its own plasma-display panels, opting to buy panels from Panasonic. Pioneer also planned to start building liquid-crystal-display TV sets using panels bought from Sharp.
