Toshiba plans to split into three companies as early as 2023, said a report Tuesday, after a series of crises at the firm including the ouster of the board’s chairman and a contentious buyout offer.
According to the Nikkei business daily, the three units would focus on infrastructure, devices and semiconductor memory and are expected to be listed, possibly within two years.
Toshiba said the option of splitting its business up was under consideration but said nothing had been decided.
The Nikkei, which did not cite sources, said the move could be announced Friday when Toshiba reports earnings.
“We are drafting a mid-term business plan to enhance our corporate value, and dividing our businesses is one of the options, but there is nothing officially decided at this point,” Toshiba spokesman Tatsuro Oishi said.
“We will swiftly announce if we decide anything that should be disclosed,” he said.
If confirmed, the decision would cap a period of enormous upheaval for the firm, once a symbol of Japan’s advanced technology and economic power.
In June, shareholders voted to oust the board’s chairman after a series of scandals and losses, in a rare victory for activity investors in corporate Japan.
The move followed the damaging revelations of an independent probe that concluded Toshiba attempted to block shareholders from exercising their proposal and voting rights.
