Is SHARP in Danger?

SHARP LCD screens

SHARP losses over 4½ years top $10 billion !

“The maker of screens for Apple Inc.’s iPhones posted a loss of ¥83.6 billion in the six months ended September as the Chinese smartphone market slowed. Display sales dropped 15 percent.

Sharp has trudged from one crisis to another over the last four years after lower-cost Asian rivals undercut its core business making liquid-crystal display TVs. Banks accepted shares in the company earlier this year after it defaulted on debt payments, and it remains dependent on its main lenders Mizuho Financial Group Inc. and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. for survival.

“The problem with Sharp is it doesn’t have a core business with which it can look to the future,” said Mana Nakazora, the chief credit analyst in Tokyo at BNP Paribas SA. “All it can do is shrink its operations further.” (The Japan Times)

Read more from: About SHARP Corp’s losses

Is exiting or spinning off Audio-Video/Electronics/SemiCon/Display businesses, together with diversifying into other/new business domains, the only option left to Japanese Manufacturers? What do you think?