TOKYO -- As Toshiba heads for a buyout by a private equity fund on Friday, the industrial conglomerate will need not only to improve its efficiency and profitability, but also to make large investments, including mergers and acquisitions (M&As), said Chairman Akihiro Watanabe, as Toshiba aims to re-emerge as a digitally driven company.
"CEO [Taro] Shimada is pushing in the right direction," the outgoing board chairman said, referring to Shimada's vision to transform the Japanese industrial stalwart into a digital platformer. However, Watanabe stressed, "Developing digital and data businesses will cost a lot of money. It will become necessary to partner with software and artificial intelligence (AI) companies, or even to acquire them, in order to secure talent for such a transformation."
