Toshiba’s privatization had been expected to lay the groundwork for sweeping changes, and the company duly made them this week in the form of mass job cuts and a new strategy.
It announced on Thursday that it would cut up to 4,000 jobs as part of its restructuring. The storied company, which delisted in December after a ¥2 trillion ($13 billion) takeover by private equity firm Japan Industrial Partners (JIP), is revamping its business with a bang.
The combination of Vice President Koji Ikeya, a former Mitsubishi Motors CFO whose tenure coincided with job cuts at the automaker, and a bottom line-focused private equity firm means that Toshiba is now helmed by a leadership well-practiced in cost-cutting measures, which in this case is concentrated on the older, higher-salaried portion of its workforce through an early retirement incentive program.