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Corporation , ()
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Committed to People, Committed to the Future TOSHIBA
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Tokyo, Japan ( 1904 )
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Tokyo, Japan
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Atsutoshi Nishida , President & CEO
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165,000 (Consolidated, as of March 31, 2005)
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5,836 billion Yen (Fiscal year ended March 31, 2005)
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Electronics
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Digital products, Electronic devices & components, Electronic devices & components, Home appliances and others
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Toshiba Worldwide
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() is a
Japanese high technology electrical and electronics manufacturing firm, headquartered in
Tokyo ,
Japan . It is the 7th largest integrated manufacturer of electric and electronic equipment in the world.
In financial year 2000-01 the company generated sales of
¥ 5,951,357 million and net income of ¥ 96,168 million. The company employs 188,042 people (2001).
Toshiba was founded by the merging of two companies in
1939 .
The first company, Tanaka Seizosho (Tanaka Engineering Works), was Japan's first manufacturer of telegraph equipment and was established by
Hisashige Tanaka in
1875 . In
1904 , the company name was changed to Shibaura Seisakusho (Shibaura Engineering Works). Through the first part of the
20th Century , Shibaura Engineering Works became a major manufacturer of heavy electrical machinery as Japan, modernized during the
Meiji Era , became a world industrial power.
The second company, originally named Hakunetsusha, was established in
1890 and was Japan's first producer of incandescent electrical lamps. The company diversified into the manufacture of other consumer products, and in
1899 it was renamed Tokyo Denki (Tokyo Electric).
The merger in 1939 of Shibaura Seisakusho and Tokyo Denki created a new company called Tokyo Shibaura Denki. It was soon nicknamed Toshiba, but it wasn't until
1984 that the company was officially renamed Toshiba Corporation.
The group expanded strongly, both by internal growth and by acquisitions, buying heavy engineering and primary industry firms in the
1940s and
1950s and then spinning off subsidiaries in the
1970s and beyond, groups created include Toshiba EMI (
1960 ), Toshiba Electrical Equipment (
1974 ), Toshiba Chemical (
1974 ), Toshiba Lighting and Technology (
1989 ) and Toshiba Carrier Corporation (
1999 ).
The company was responsible for a number of Japanese firsts, including radar (
1942 ), the TAC digital computer (
1954 ), transistor television and microwave oven (
1959 ),
Color Video Phone (
1971 ), Japanese word processor (
1978 ), MRI system (
1982 ), laptop personal computer (
1986 ), NAND EEPROM (
1991 ), DVD (
1995 ), the
Libretto sub-notebook personal computer (
1996 ), and HD-DVD (
2005 ).
In
1987 , the company was accused of illegally selling
CNC Milling Machines used to produce very quiet
Submarine propellers to the
Soviet Union in violation of the
CoCom agreement. The incident put a strain on relations between the
United States and
Japan and resulted in the arrest and prosecution of two senior executives, as well as the imposition of
Sanctions on the company by both countries.
In
2001 , Toshiba signed a contract with
Orion Electric , one of the world's largest
OEM consumer video electronic makers and suppliers, to manufacture and supply finished consumer TV and video products for Toshiba to meet the increasing demand for the North American market.
In
December 2004 , Toshiba quietly announced it would discontinue manufacturing traditional
Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) televisions, due to recent increasing sales of
Flat-panel TVs and continuing sales drop of CRT televisions. Toshiba quickly switched to Orion as the supplier and maker of Toshiba-branded CRT-based TVs. However, to ensure its future competitiveness in the flat-panel digital television and display market, Toshiba has made a considerable investment in a new kind of display technology called
SED .
Before
World War II , Toshiba was a member of the
Mitsui Group Zaibatsu . Today Toshiba is a member of the Mitsui
Keiretsu (a set of companies with interlocking business relationships and shareholdings), and still has preferential arrangements with Mitsui Bank and the other members of the keiretsu. Membership in a keiretsu traditionally meant loyalty, both corporate and private, to other members of the keiretsu or allied keiretsu. This loyalty could extend as far as the
Beer that workers would consume, which in Toshiba's case was
Kirin .
In July 2005 ,
General Electric and
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and when the ''
Financial Times '' reported on January 23, 2006 that Toshiba had won the bid, it valued the company's offer at $5bn (£2.8bn). The bid has surprised many industry experts who question the wisdom of selling one of the world's largest producers of nuclear reactors shortly before the market for nuclear power is expected to grow substantially;
China , the
United States and the
United Kingdom are all expected to invest heavily in nuclear power.
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Major competitors of Toshiba include:
Toshiba has created a perpendicular recording 1.8
Inch disc that can store 80
GB .
