Makiko Yamazaki

TOKYO (Reuters: Toshiba) stated Monday it will now seek to break into two separate companies, instead of the three previously planned. The company also plans to increase shareholder returns as a way to calm angry investors.

Toshiba, once a storied conglomerate, has suffered from accounting scandals and massive writedowns of U.S. nuclear businesses. It also lost its most prized chip business. Additionally, it was found that the company colluded with overseas investors to stop them gaining power. This timeline shows Toshiba’s problems since 2015.

2015: Toshiba exposes accounting errors across several divisions. This included top management. It overstated its pretax profits by 230 billion Japanese yen (approximately $2 billion) in seven years.

Dec. 2016, Toshiba announces that it will charge several billion dollars for a company building nuclear power plants in the United States. This was a purchase Toshiba made a year ago.

March 2017: Westinghouse files Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The reason is cost overruns that have cost billions of dollars and the long delays in U.S. power project construction. Toshiba Memory, its most prized chip unit and linked liabilities to Westinghouse is put up for sale.

Sept. 2017 – Toshiba agrees to sell the chip unit to a consortium led by Bain Capital for $18 billion, a deal under which Toshiba retains a large stake. Toshiba wants to complete the deal before March 31st, as it is concerned that its liabilities will exceed assets again and could lose its listing. It is currently involved in a long-running dispute with a chip joint venture partner Western Digital Corp (NASDAQ 🙂 Antitrust and sales reviews will take place over several months.

Dec. 2017, Toshiba gets $5.4 Billion cash injection from overseas investors. It helps avoid delisting, but also brings on prominent activists shareholders such as Elliott Management and Third Point. It resolves the Western Digital dispute.

June 2018, Toshiba closes sale of Toshiba Memory to Bain.

January 2020: Toshiba discovers new accounting errors at its wholly-owned subsidiary.

July 2020: Five directors are removed from Toshiba’s Annual General Meeting by activists shareholders who want to strengthen governance and implement a change strategy.

Sept. 2020: Toshiba announces that over 1,000 voting forms sent by postal mail for its AGM were uncounted. SumitomoMitsui Trust Bank (NYSE:) later revealed widespread inability to count valid votes during AGMs for its clients over the last two decades.

March 20, 2121: Shareholders authorize an independent investigation of allegations that investors were under pressure before the AGM last year.

April 2021 – CVC Capital Partners makes an unsolicited $21 billion offer to take Toshiba private. Toshiba’s CEO quits a week later amid controversy about the CVC bid. Some within the company thought it was an attempt to protect him from activist shareholders. Some activist shareholders are angered by Toshiba’s dismissal of CVC offers.

June 10, 2021 – The shareholder-commissioned investigation concludes Toshiba colluded with Japan’s trade ministry – which sees Toshiba as a strategic asset due to its nuclear reactor and defence technology – to block overseas investors from gaining influence at the 2020 shareholder meeting.

June 25, 2021, a board meeting saw Osamu Nakayama be ousted by shareholders. He was accused of not addressing the accusations that he had been pressuring foreign investors. Toshiba promises to conduct a thorough review of its assets and meet with potential investors.

Nov 20, 21 – Toshiba announces it will seperate into three businesses, with one unit focusing on energy and another on infrastructure. The third manages its share in the flash-memory-chip company Kioxia.

Feb. 7, 2012 – The new plan for splitting into two has been announced. However, only the devices unit of Toshiba will be split. Toshiba doubles its goal for shareholder returns, increasing it to $2.6B over the next two years.