The consumer electronics groups that led Japan’s golden era and put fear into industrial nations in the 1980s have almost all been reinvented or bought. With one glaring exception: Panasonic.
Once a sponsor of the Olympic Games with its televisions, video players and microwaves in homes around the world, Panasonic is struggling to emulate its peers.
Rivals Hitachi, Sony and NEC have been rewarded for executing painful business transformations, each surging six times in value over a decade, while Toshiba was sold in 2023 for $15bn to Japan Industrial Partners. In contrast, the market value of Panasonic has languished for the past 10 years at around ¥3.75tn ($25bn).