Toshiba Unveils Plan To Sell Its Semiconductor Business For $18 Billion USD
After spending many months battling roadblock after roadblock in its fight to continue to be listed on the Toyko Stock Exchange, Toshiba has unveiled a definitive plan to offload its microchip business. Investors have come to the company's rescue, offering up $18 billion USD to acquire its lucrative NAND capacities. Investors include American investment firm Bain Capital, and two organizations controlled by the Japanese government: Innovation Network Corporation, and Development Bank of Japan.
With its $2 trillion yen sale, Toshiba would be $740 billion yen for the better, allowing it to remain on the TSE, in turn enabling further investments from the public. Thus far in its attempt to sell its microchip unit, Toshiba has been met with serious resistance from Western Digital, which acts as an integral partner of its chip business. WDC was one entity that was mulling an acquisition, but its attempts clearly proved fruitless in the end.
Toshiba's chip business is so lucrative, that $18 billion USD seems like a solid investment on anyone's part. The company has become the 2nd biggest shipper of flash NAND, so chances are very good that you own a product with one of its chips inside, whether it be an SSD or a smartphone.
While WDC didn't manage to become a part owner of Toshiba's chip business, it's likely to continue fighting the company over its sale, believing that due to their tight relationship, the sale shouldn't have been able to take place at all. This could end up getting really messy as this marriage proposal runs its course.
