Toshiba was the first company to bring a laptop computer to market in 1985, known as the T1100. Toshiba is leaving the PC business behind.
In 2018, Toshiba saw the writing on the wall for its PC business, as it sold a majority stake (80.1%) to Sharp. Sharp, which now operates under Foxconn’s conglomerate umbrella, would use the majority stake as a foothold to re-enter the PC market.
Toshiba’s PC business began shrinking, and the firm began exiting markets. In 2015, it started outsourcing its laptop production. And in 2018, it sold 80 percent of its PC business to Sharp for just $36 billion. Sharp has since renamed the product line to Dynabook, and it continues to sell product using former Toshiba brands such as Portégé and Tecra.
This week, Toshiba confirmed that it sold its remaining 20 percent stake to Sharp on June 30, 2020. It’s not clear what the value of that transaction is, but Toshiba has finally exited the PC market for good.
