Japan’s troubled TV makers, Panasonic Corp., Sony Corp. and Sharp Corp., are selling buildings and businesses in a giant “garage sale” that could raise a combined $3 billion as the firms look to trim fixed costs and improve cashflow at a time of intense competition, particularly from South Korean rivals such as Samsung Electronics Co.
It promises to revolutionise television in the way the iPad did computing, and the chance to make Apple Inc’s much-anticipated smart TV could explain Taiwan’s Hon Hai Precision Industry’s bold move to buy into 100-year-old Japanese firm Sharp.
