Toshiba to use crisis for profit-building overhaul

Tokyo

THE biggest crisis in Toshiba Corp's 140-year history gives president Masashi Muromachi an opportunity to push through painful reforms from layoffs to business closures, accelerating the industrial conglomerate's move away from consumer electronics.

Revelations that management was complicit in padding profits for almost seven years have cost the Japanese household brand 40 per cent of its value and resulted in a record fine. Mr Muromachi now plans far-reaching changes that may encompass selling the personal computer (PC) and appliance businesses - money-losing divisions the company long refused to abandon.

Toshiba, which made the world's first laptop computer and first DVD player, has clung to legacy consumer-electronics businesses tha…