Panasonic Holdings Corporation is undertaking structural reforms to enhance the profitability of its television business, while Skyworth Group aims to achieve low-cost global expansion in the color TV market.
On February 24, a representative from Panasonic confirmed to a reporter that the company has signed an agreement with Skyworth. Effective April, Panasonic will transfer its television sales operations in Europe and North America to Skyworth Group.
A year ago, Panasonic Holdings indicated that for underperforming businesses, including its television operations, it was considering various strategic options, including potential sales or exits, to achieve a fundamental transformation of its profit structure.
For the period from April to December 2025, Panasonic Holdings reported an 8% year-on-year decline in sales to 5.8837 trillion yen, with net profit falling 57% to 125.2 billion yen. The company is actively advancing structural reforms, and this adjustment to its color TV business is one of the measures being implemented.
On February 4, 2026, Panasonic Holdings announced that, as part of its structural reform efforts, it might increase the scale of its workforce reduction in Japan and overseas from 10,000 to 12,000 employees. However, the transfer of the European and North American television sales operations will not involve new personnel cuts or factory downsizing.
According to data from Sigmaintell, Panasonic did not rank among the top ten in global TV shipments for 2025. Skyworth's shipments remained flat year-on-year at 8.2 million units, securing a 3.7% share of the global market.
Huang Hongsheng, founder of Skyworth Group, stated in January of this year that Skyworth had already acquired the operational rights for the Philips TV brand in North America and would continue to pursue a strategy of low-cost global expansion.
Zhang Hong, Deputy General Manager of the Large Size Division at Sigmaintell, analyzed that Panasonic's annual TV shipments are approximately 2 million units, with less than half of those destined for Europe and North America. How Skyworth will expand the Panasonic TV brand in these regions after April remains to be seen, but pursuing multi-brand expansion in European and American markets is a clear direction.
Sigmaintell's statistical data suggests that following the acquisition of Panasonic's regional operations, Skyworth's own-brand TV shipments are projected to approach 9 million units in 2026, potentially increasing its global market share to 4%.
This is part of a growing trend of Chinese TV brands taking over the operations of Japanese TV brands. Previously, Hisense acquired Toshiba's TV business. In January of this year, TCL Electronics signed an agreement to take a controlling stake in Sony's TV business. Skyworth's planned acquisition of Panasonic's European and North American TV operations is expected to further boost the market share of Chinese brands globally.
Wang Xianming, Research Director of the TV Industry Chain at RUNTO, commented that the global TV market is experiencing sluggish growth and intensifying competition, making operations difficult for second and third-tier brands. Consequently, many companies are choosing to divest their TV businesses, leading to a trend of industry consolidation. Leading Chinese brands possess strong capabilities in integrating upstream and downstream resources, with companies like Hisense and TCL actively engaged in such consolidation.
Wang Xianming noted that Skyworth ranked sixth globally in the color TV market for 2025, with shipments of 8.6 million units, behind Samsung, TCL, Hisense, LG, and Xiaomi. For Skyworth to quickly break into the top five, mergers and acquisitions are a viable strategy, although its previous acquisition of Germany's Metz resulted in limited sales volume. With Panasonic's global TV shipments at 1.885 million units in 2025, Skyworth's takeover of its European and North American operations presents an opportunity to add nearly a million units to its scale, though initial operational challenges are anticipated.
As of 3:40 PM on February 24, Skyworth Group's stock price had risen 1.1% to HK$7.32 per share.
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