RSSSanyo offloads cell phone arm to Kyocera, but brand will survive
By Jacqueline Emigh | Published January 21, 2008, 7:54 PM
You'll still be able to get a cell phone with Sanyo's name on it, if that's what you want. But now, the troubled Japanese electronics manufacturer will be selling its mobile phone business to Kyocera for around $374 million.
Less than a month after amending its earnings since 2000 to show bigger losses, Sanyo announced today that it will sell its mobile phone operations to Kyocera in a deal valued at about $374 million. The Sanyo brand name will reportedly survive, however.
Although the Japanese-based consumer electronics maker has served as a supplier to several major wireless carriers, Sanyo has been falling into big trouble lately on the business side.
In late December, after being accused by Japanese regulators of faking earning reports, Sanyo admitted in a statement that it had booked the equivalent of about $36.5 million more in losses from April, 2000 through September, 2007 than reported before.
But Sanyo officials denied any intentional falsification, laying the blame instead on a lack of understanding of accounting rules and priciples, together with weak internal regulatory systems.
Earlier last year, though, Sanyo admitted to falsifying its fiscal 2003 earnings by reporting a profit rather than a loss.
Also in 2007, Goldman-Sachs and other investors helped to keep Sanyo afloat with a $2.8 billion bailout.
On December 25, Sanyo said it would cut the salaries and retirement benefits of long-time Sanyo President Seiichiro Sano and other current and former managers.
With reported plans to establish solar and battery operations as its core business, Sanyo has already solid a smaller mobile phone retail business and gotten rid of its holdings in Sanyo Electric Credit Co. even before announcing the sale of its mobile phone business to Kyocera today.
The company also makes television sets and other consumer electronics goods for the home.
About 2,000 employees in Sanyo's mobile phone company will now go to work for Kyocera, which will also reportedly keep using the Sanyo brand on cell phones, as well. Sanyo officials were not immediately available today to comment on the sale of its cell phone unit.
Actually, I've used Sanyo pcs phones for years now.. Their reception has been better then any other brand I've owned. ( Which has been many. ) The worst has always been Samsung. I have a Sanyo M1 right now and love it.. well, I dont love it that much.. at least, not to the point where it would be considered illegal in some states.
Score: 0
LOL, "You'll still be able to get a cell phone with Sanyo's name on it".
OMG thats a relief.
I'm an always stick to my same brands kinda guy cause I'm a guru for state of the art technology, you know sanyo- warped plasticky toaster, sanyo- never get reception tv, sanyo-microwave that has irratic vibrations and strange humming sounds like its got alien technology that's gona turn back time, sanyo-chew and play tape like chipmunks everytime twin cassette deck stereo sanyo- you need to buy original cause it cant read burnt cds dvd player...and the list goes on...
Score: 0