Japan’s Sharp Corp announced Tuesday it is purchasing an 80.1 percent stake in Toshiba’s personal computer business for $36 million, with the backing of parent company Foxconn.
Toshiba made the first mass-market laptop in 1985, and sustained a major presence in computer stores till 2010, when it only managed to move approximately 1.4 million brand computers, partly due to the shift to mobile computing.
Sharp pulled out of the PC business eight years ago, but has the resources to manufacture PCs at a relatively lower cost, compared to Toshiba.
According to Sharp, it is also issuing $1.8 billion in new shares to enable it buy back preferred stock held by banks that previously bailed it out.
Sharp was purchased by Foxconn, previously known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, two years ago.The company recently posted its first annual net profit in four years.