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source from：WSJ
TECH
Talks to Merge PC Units of Toshiba, Fujitsu and Vaio Risk Collapse
Vaio has already left talks, Fujitsu still in discussions with Toshiba
By TAKASHI MOCHIZUKI
April 14, 2016 6:31 a.m. ET
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TOKYO—Talks to merge the personal-computer units of Toshiba Corp., Fujitsu Ltd. and Vaio Corp. risk collapsing, people familiar with the matter said, increasing the likelihood that the companies would need to find a way to survive separately in the low-margin industry.
Japan Industrial Partners Inc., a fund that purchased a controlling stake in Vaio from Sony Corp. in 2014, has already left the negotiations, they said. Fujitsu is still in discussions with Toshiba, but neither wants to take a majority of the proposed joint company, putting the talks at risk of falling apart, said several people briefed on the matter.
The talks got going last year after an accounting scandal at Toshiba, which said it had overstated profits for years. The 140-year-old electronics firm fell into deep financial trouble, and Chief Executive Masashi Muromachi started shedding businesses to shore up its balance sheet and restore profitability.
Although Toshiba was a pioneer in notebook computers, its unit selling Dynabook PCs has been losing money. Mr. Muromachi earlier confirmed the talks about a combination and said it could help the companies get better terms from suppliers.
Under one idea, Japan Industrial Partners would have taken a controlling stake in the combined company, but the sides couldn’t agree on terms, according to people familiar with the matter. They said Vaio walked away because it felt the negotiations were going nowhere.
Mr. Muromachi hinted at the difficulties last month, saying he hoped to conclude the matter by June after earlier setting a March deadline. A Toshiba spokeswoman said Thursday that the company is considering various options for its PC unit, including a consolidation with others, but nothing has been decided.
In March, Toshiba agreed to sell its medical-equipment unit to Canon Inc. in a deal valued at ￥688 billion ($6.3 billion). One person familiar with the matter said the larger-than-expected price tag took the pressure off Toshiba to reach a PC deal quickly.
Toshiba has said it expects to report a net loss of ￥710 billion in the year ended March 2016, although the amount may be smaller thanks to the medical deal.
All three Japanese PC makers that were involved in the combination talks have suffered from their small scale in the global market, where price competition is intense. According to Euromonitor, Toshiba’s global PC share last year was 4.1%, Fujitsu’s was 1.2% and Vaio’s was 1.1%. Even if they combined, the three would be far short of Lenovo Group Ltd.’s 17.4%.
Japanese electronics companies once dominated the PC market, but fell back after the product was commoditized. NEC Corp., another Japanese PC maker, formed a joint venture with Lenovo in 2011, while Panasonic Corp. is focusing on high-end models for business use.
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