Details are fuzzy right now -- and what details there are have been officially denied -- but the Japanese press is having a bit of a field day over the possibility of a Sanyo selloff to Matsushita / Panasonic. Apparently Goldman Sachs, Sumitomo, and Daiwa own some 67% of Sanyo's equity, and as Japanese paper Yomiuri reports, are looking at the possibility of transferring said equity to or otherwise forming a partnership with Matsushita. Again, both Matsu and Sanyo are denying the report as of now, so it's all still up in the air as the salarymen figure out whether to combine both companies to make a corporate entity larger than even Hitachi (which currently sits at the top of Japan's heap).
Update: Panasonic (aka, Matsushita Electric Industrial) just issued the following
statement: "These reports are not based on any official announcement by MEI, and there is no fact that MEI is considering on the alliance." Not exactly a denial is it?
[Via
Engadget Japanese, thanks Theirry]
posted Apr 27th 2008 at 9:20PM
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
gad get @ Apr 27th 2008 9:35PM
So, Matsushita isn't larger than Hitachi already? I find that quite surprising. Does Hitachi have other brands it sells under? Panny's got a lot of market penetration from what I've noticed. Well, whatever....
Michael Kennedy @ Apr 28th 2008 12:51AM
Was or high, or was there talk a while back of Matsushita changing all their global brands to Panasonic to stop confusion?!
MeatyPi @ Apr 27th 2008 9:46PM
ahh, Sanyo, the brand that sold 3 TVs here in the US, I hardly knew ye
DarkLightConnection Unbanned @ Apr 27th 2008 10:09PM
Well, they're not that unknown outside the US...
I have a Sanyo LCD, and it's pretty good... And I used to have a Sanyo stereo, before I switched over to modular audio systems.. It was great, too...
There are Sanyo advertisements in Project Gotham Racing 4, 'nuff said.
casey @ Apr 27th 2008 10:43PM
You mean to say that I am the only one who bought sanyo tvs? (I have 3)
Rig @ Apr 28th 2008 4:11PM
No Casey you are not alone. I have bought 3 of them over the years myself. Still have one in the armoire in the bedroom. The were good TVs back in the CRT days....remember those day?
CUBSWILLWIN @ Apr 29th 2008 10:48PM
I still have a CRT monitor :( My dell LCD power button broke
mykie @ Apr 27th 2008 9:58PM
I had the impression that Sanyo's phone division was gobbled up by Nokia?
I hope that's not true, everything Nokia touches turns to shit, and Sanyo is one of the few high-quality CDMA headset manufacturer's we have left.
Ashraf @ Apr 27th 2008 11:04PM
high quality?
what are you smoking?
I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Apr 27th 2008 11:12PM
I was doubtfull at first, but I now agree, Sanyo's phones really are great. After a nearly 15 years of all Motorola, my whole family switched to Sanyo to get on the Sprint Family plan. I have to say that Sanyo's phone get reception where others on the same network cannot. They are fantastic phones with awesome reception and fantastic slim yet high capacity sanyo batteries. Love them now and plan on upgrading to the nearly bullet proof 7050.
Jamar @ Apr 28th 2008 6:35AM
Kyocera, not Nokia. And yes, Sanyo IS rather high-quality.
Stylze @ Apr 27th 2008 11:14PM
Sanyo's mobile phone company was bought by Kyocera. Also, aren't company's like Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, and Toyota bigger? Or are we just talking about electronic companies?
MeatyPi @ Apr 27th 2008 11:39PM
just gonna take a complete shot in the dark, and say since this is engadget, they are probably talking about electronic companies.
Peter Payne @ Apr 27th 2008 11:36PM
Interesting side note. Sanyo was founded by the son-in-law of Konosuke Matsushita, who founded Panasonic. So there's some synergy there already, history-wise. This little tidbit of Japanese business history has been brought to you by J-List.
maff @ Apr 28th 2008 7:06AM
Hitachi = bestselling TVs in Japan
dooobie @ Apr 28th 2008 3:35PM
I spoke to a VP w/Sanyo's mobile division last month and he pushed me off because he said "they were being acquired by another company"