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Sharp is expected to record its first profit in four years. And not wanting to have the spare cash hanging around, the manufacturer is reportedly hoping to buy a percentage of Toshiba’s valuable memory chip unit.
According to the Nikkei Asian Review, Sharp is looking to snap up as much as 20 per cent of Toshiba’s memory unit in a joint bid with Foxconn. Foxconn is also sounding out the likes of Apple and Google in a bid to create a conglomerate of super tech companies willing to buy up Toshiba’s chip unit.
Earlier today, Sharp announced that it was set to report its first net profit in four years for the year ending in March 2018. Cost-cutting brought in by parent company Foxconn is largely to credit for the rising figures at Sharp.Reversing last year’s 24.9 billion yen loss, the TV manufacturer epects profits to soar to 59 billion yen ($530 million). That is some 19 billion yen highed than analysts at Thomson Reuters recently predicted.
Foxonn acquired Sharp for $3.8 billion last year, targeting an operating profit of 150 billion by the year 2020.And now it has refilled the coffers, Sharp looks set to invest. As well as the potential Toshiba deal, Sharp announced last week that it would invest $1 billion in SoftBank Group’s technology focussed $100 billion vision fund.
Toshiba is still looking for investors as it attempts to recoup funds lost in its now-bankrupt Westinghouse nuclear unit. After recording billion dollar losses, the firm is eager to sell of its assets in order to survive.
