Toshiba, a Japanese conglomerate, has revealed plans to divide the corporation into three independent firms.
According to BBC, Toshiba stated that the three companies will concentrate on infrastructure, semiconductors, and devices.
Since an accounting crisis in 2015, the firm has under increased pressure from activist investors to make reforms.
This week, General Electric, a US conglomerate, unveiled a similar approach that will see the historic firm dismantled.
Toshiba’s proposal calls for the separation of two key businesses: energy and infrastructure, as well as device and storage.
Toshiba will retain a 40.6 percent ownership in memory chipmaker Kioxia as well as other assets after selling those two companies.
The reorganization is expected to be completed in the second half of 2023.
Following shareholder pressure, Toshiba is taking this step to boost the stock market prices of its various businesses.
However, several experts are concerned about the changes’ timeline.
“The move is in the right direction, but it seems slow,” said Atul Goyal of investment bank Jeffries, who would have preferred a timeline of three-to-six months.
“2023 is a long way out and we are not sure what else will change between now and then.”
Toshiba is one of Japan’s oldest and largest corporations, with businesses ranging from consumer electronics to nuclear power plants.
However, the corporation has undergone significant adjustments in recent years as a result of an accounting scandal and massive losses at its US nuclear unit.
The then-chief executive and President Hisao Tanaka In 2015 resigned after Toshiba said it had overstated its profits by more than a $1bn.
In April of this year, UK private equity group CVC Capital Partners made an unsolicited $20bn takeover bid for Toshiba.
One week later, the company’s chief executive Nobuaki Kurumatani resigned amid controversy over the bid.
Toshiba had rejected CVC’s offer, which angered some activist shareholders.
In June, a shareholder revolt saw Chairman Osamu Nagayama ousted from his position.
