## Toshiba Plans Major Layoffs in Bid to Relist on Tokyo Stock Exchange
Toshiba Corporation is planning to lay off thousands of workers in an effort to relist its shares on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. The company will announce the details of the workforce reduction in its medium- to long-term business plan, which is scheduled to be released in mid-May.
One possible method for the reduction is by consolidating certain sections of Toshiba's many subsidiaries at the Tokyo headquarters. The conglomerate was delisted from the stock exchange in December 2023 after being acquired by Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) in a public tender offer totaling about 2 trillion yen ($13 billion).
Toshiba currently employs approximately 67,000 workers in Japan, spread across numerous subsidiaries involved in various sectors, including social infrastructure, energy, and devices. While the exact number of layoffs is not yet known, sources indicate that it will be the largest reduction since 2001, when Toshiba let go of approximately 17,000 workers following a major downturn in the information technology sector.
The company's annual sales have also been halved, from around 7 trillion yen to 3 trillion yen, partly due to the divestiture of some business operations. For the period from April to December 2023, Toshiba recorded a net loss of 107 billion yen, primarily attributed to the poor performance of its hard disk sector.
Toshiba aims to relist its shares within five years and sees payroll reduction and business structure reorganization as key strategies to improve profitability. The company is focusing on energy and social infrastructure as potential profit growth sectors, while also exploring new business opportunities leveraging its digital technology expertise.
Toshiba has faced significant management challenges over the past decade, including accounting fraud disclosed in 2015 and the bankruptcy of its U.S. nuclear power plant unit, Westinghouse Electric Co., in 2017. To stay afloat, the company received approximately 600 billion yen from 60 overseas investment funds. This resulted in a significant portion of Toshiba's shares being held by overseas fund investors, leading to intensified battles between multiple activist shareholders and Toshiba's management.