Toshiba has named a new chief executive, follows last year’s revelations of a $1.3 billion accounting scandal at the Japanese multinational conglomerate.Sixty-year-old Satoshi Tsunakawa, pictured, currently
an executive vice president, will succeed Masashi Muromachi as chief executive
next month, pending shareholders’ approval, the company said.
Muromachi was appointed caretaker CEO last year, after the major culprit in the
scandal, Hisao Tanaka, resigned.
Toshiba admitted that under Tanaka’s leadership the corporation had overstated
its profits by 151.8 billion yen (A$1.9 billion) over six years.
At a news conference in Tokyo, Tsunakawa said his priority would be to improve
Toshiba’s finances and focus on its three key businesses: energy, memory chips
and “social infrastructure” such as elevators and water systems.
The company’s personal computer business – mainly centred on notebooks and
tablets – appears to now be on the outer at Toshiba HQ after a move to merge
the business with Fujitsu and Vaio PC operations fizzled.
Tsunakawa said Toshiba might still be able to turn around the PC business on
its own by narrowing its focus, but stressed that the company would look at all
possibilities, including mergers.
