VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Foxconn has put forth a highly tempting offer of over $5 billion in front of the almost-bankrupt Sharp Corp, which well exceeds its current valuation at $1.8 billion. The other potential buyer, Innovation Network Corp. of Japan, who was already very confident, is not so sure of a win right now. Foxconn's bid amount not only surpasses Innovation's $2.5 billion, the Taiwanese firm has also offered to absorb all of Sharp's debts and not make any top management replacements. While the board does not want their Japanese seller to fall under any kind of foreign control, the decision needs to be based purely on deal economics and not political considerations.

Japan state-backed fund is keen on acquiring stakes in Sharp Corporation for Yen 200 billion ($1.63 billion). Sharp Corp recorded Yen 50 billion operating loss for the first half of 2015. The LCD business unit of Sharp Corp is a major contributor to the losses. Sharp is planning to spin off LCD business unit and later it may consider stake selling, according to media reports.

Japan's struggling electronics maker Sharp Corp is set to post a net loss of 180 billion yen ($1.45 billion) in the current year through next March, Kyodo News reported on Thursday, without citing sources.

Japan's Sharp Corp said it had secured a $1.9 billion bailout, its second major bank-led rescue in three years, after falling deep into the red as its smartphone display business was battered by competition from Asian rivals.

Japan's Sharp Corp and its main banks are set to agree on Thursday to a $1.7 billion rescue and restructuring plan that will likely include a promise to split off its ailing smartphone display business, a person involved in the discussions said.

Sony Corp aims to boost its operating profit 25-fold within three years by focusing on its more profitable image sensors, videogame and entertainment businesses, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

Japanese shipments of traditional flip-phones rose in 2014 for the first time in seven years while smartphone shipments fell, highlighting Japanese consumers' tenacious attachment to the familiar and typically less expensive older models.

Japanese electronics supplier Sharp Corp warned it will slip into its third annual net loss in four years as fierce pricing competition saps sales of smartphone displays, the business line it had been counting on for growth.

Panasonic Corp (6752.T) has stopped making TVs in China and plans to liquidate its joint venture in Shandong, a company source said on Saturday, the latest in a string of Japanese electronics companies exiting overseas TV markets amid strong pricing pressure.

Sharp Corp said it would begin mass-producing a new type of next-generation displays with Qualcomm unit Pixtronix from 2017, in the hopes that innovation would pay off in the long term as the firm nurses its finances back to health.

Sharp Corp (6753.T) is looking to sell its U.S.-based solar energy development unit Recurrent Energy, Bloomberg reported on Monday, as the Japanese firm winds down its involvement in the solar industry to focus on profitable businesses.

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi will soon release its first tablet, sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, expanding the fast-growing company's product lineup in a potential challenge to Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Apple Inc.

The Motorola Mobility unit of Google was mostly defeated in the antitrust case it filed against LCD makers it had claimed colluded to fix prices, Bloomberg reported.

Sharp Corp President Kozo Takahashi said the Japanese company intends to sell plants and stock holdings as it extends the reforms it had started in 2013, Bloomberg reported.

A regulatory filing showed Sharp would be selling stocks at a discount to raise JPY 137 billion.