Sharp, the Japanese display-maker, has been often cited in relation with Apple since it is a major supplier of displays for Apple’s products. However, quite surprisingly, the company recently admitted that it is on the verge of bankruptcy.
Sharp has been on a downward spiral for some time. It has been trying to implement organizational restructuring by laying off a number of employees. At the same time, it had to shutter down a number of its facilities and sell another few of them.
It seems that things aren’t working out for Sharp and as part of its disclosure requirements, the company has now admitted the abysmal state it is in. It had been relying on a major deal with the parent company of Foxconn which would have involved a significant amount of investment from Sharp.
But the negotiations are still continuing and over time, Sharp’s stock has virtually plunged, leaving it at very little value. And due to that, very few investors are interested any more in actually negotiating a deal with the company.
During the current year, Sharp is hoping that its overall losses won’t exceed $5.6 billion. A while ago, the company had forecast a much lower estimate of less than $4 billion losses. Things went wrong for Sharp when it invested its resources a bit too aggressively into LCD panels for TVs.
The TV industry has fast shifted and has swept with it many big wigs. However, Sharp may be able to turn this financial disaster around by focusing on IGZO technology, with the help of which it can create power-efficient displays for tablets and smartphones. Given the continuous growth of the tablet market, Sharp can cut a deal with a few leading tablet vendors and turn its IGZO business into profit.
Courtesy: Computer World
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