Battle for Toshiba: a tale of tempers, threats, clashes

Tokyo

STEVE Milligan was ready to declare victory. A statement was drafted and a photographer was getting lined up for a hand-shake ceremony planned in Tokyo. As the brash Silicon Valley executive prepared to announce the biggest deal of his career, a prominent Japanese newspaper was reporting his consortium had clinched an agreement to buy Toshiba Corp's semiconductor unit, the country's last big chip business.

Except that they hadn't. Before Mr Milligan could strike a pose for the cameras, the deal was off. For the chief executive officer of Western Digital Corp, it was the latest misread in a string of them.