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Sharp mortgages itself to the hilt just to keep going

post #1 of 38
9/6/12 at 12:53pm
Thread Starter 
Makes one wonder if they would be around long enough to service their products if required by owners.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/06/sharp-mortgages-itself/

"Sharp has mortgaged its offices and factory buildings in order to raise the cash it needs to stay in business, according to Reuters. It's cut a deal with banks for nearly $2 billion in short-term credit secured on its assets"
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post #2 of 38
9/6/12 at 1:27pm
i'd be rather nervous if i were a new owner of an elite.
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post #3 of 38
9/6/12 at 5:53pm
2 Billion should keep them going until they come to terms with Hon Hai to buy 9.9% or get the Japaneses government to bail them out until they can start turning a profit again. They could also look to partner with another Japanese or Korean tech company. Don't really think the Japanese economy can afford to lose all those jobs, so hopefully something could be done.
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post #4 of 38
9/6/12 at 6:02pm
Honestly, I think this discussion belongs in my other thread... but that said, I think this news can only be interpreted as very bad.

Sharp is fighting to stave off bankruptcy right now. There is no other way to describe what is occurring. This isn't some kind of shuffling of the balance sheet to buy flexibility, this is a fight for survival.

The "good news", such as it is, is that the more desperate the situation becomes, the more sure you can be that Hon Hai will end up buying the carcass of the LCD division. There is no way a sale of 9.9% of anything is going to be sufficient for Sharp at this point. They need a much larger capital infusion. I suspect the conversations are moving toward something like 49.9% rather quickly. But if Sharp's balance sheet deteriorates any further, even that won't cut it. These percentages are meaningless when the value of Sharp's equity is headed for zero. If 10% were going to yield $800 million, that's one thing. But all of Sharp seems to be worth about $3 billion right now. Sharps's debt is also rated "junk" and things could easily get worse from here.
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post #5 of 38
9/7/12 at 1:15am
Might mean there will be some Elite bargains coming down the pike soon. Too bad it couldn't have happened to a more deserving CEM (i.e. Sony, though I know they're not much better off). ;p
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post #6 of 38
9/10/12 at 9:05am
Gee, sounds as we are back in '08 or whenever the run amok, any thing goes, no regulation Wall Street collapsed. rolleyes.gif
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post #7 of 38
9/10/12 at 9:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by vinnie97 View Post

Might mean there will be some Elite bargains coming down the pike soon. Too bad it couldn't have happened to a more deserving CEM (i.e. Sony, though I know they're not much better off). ;p
And why exactly are Sony “more deserving” ? By trying to stay out of the race to the bottom? By being one of the few manufacturers to retain a high end line? By being one of the few companies actually trying to innovate?
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post #8 of 38
9/10/12 at 9:51am
Sony is hated for things like the rootkit fiasco and for once upon a time being the "Apple" of its era, charging a lot of money for things. It's ironically also hated for losing the VHS-Beta wars (which is weird) and for winning the BluRay-HDDVD wars (which is even weirder).
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post #9 of 38
9/10/12 at 10:46am
Beyond what Rogo mentioned, in my experience and that of several other friends (and other stories I've heard) is they didn't exactly try very hard to stay out of the race to the bottom, as evidence suggests (i.e. Xplod vehicle head units that were notoriously infamous for overheating and let's not forget the huge battery recall fiasco in the noughties, and I've heard plenty of QC problems with their TV sets, the specifics of which I presently forget). My beef does come from a combination of their aforementioned lack of quality control, their cutthroat monopolizing business methods and how they have no qualms if it causes inconvenience for their customers (yes, rootkit). I also preferred HD DVD (more so because it didn't rely upon sluggish Java) along with my prior building history of dislike for the company. The difference is Sony did manage to create a consortium of CEMs with the project while Toshiba was nearly going it alone in comparison. Also, while I can't blame all of it on Sony, the timing of the release of the PS2 and the rabid excitement that ensued upon its release, I feel, is what firmly nailed the coffin in Sega's hardware business (back in the days of my gaming, I was a long-time Sega fan). Finally, their sublabel (BMG/Deconstruction) was responsible for unceremoniously dropping one of my fave electronic artists from their roster without so much as a warning, even after the album (which by most measures was a critical success), had been delivered and leaked as a promo only to be spread over all the Internet, delaying its eventual proper release by at least 6 months.

All of the above ("death by 1000 cuts") outweighs the areas where I appreciate their input (including the CD, not forgetting Philips' role, and the minidisc, which was a marvel that they priced out of contention; incidentally, the one MD unit I owned was manufactured by Sharp) and the structural makeup of the Blu-ray disc itself (not the clunky cluster that is the Java operating system upon which it relies). The VHS-beta war wasn't really on my radar at the time, and given they lost it, I can't rail against them. It contained the higher quality video output (like BD in comparison to HD DVD) but lost for other reasons. Still, there would be little love lost from me if Sony folded today.
Edited by vinnie97 - 9/10/12 at 11:07am
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post #10 of 38
9/10/12 at 10:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by videobruce View Post

Gee, sounds as we are back in '08 or whenever the run amok, any thing goes, no regulation Wall Street collapsed. rolleyes.gif
To be fair, it was more complicated than that. Combine it with government-backed loans with political efforts to qualify the unqualified and the dissolution of Glass-Steagal (a regulation that worked well, which is painfully obvious today), and it was the perfect storm in 2008 (which more than a few predicted).
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post #11 of 38
9/10/12 at 3:40pm
Not to forget, Japan's economy was already in the tank for more than 10 years. Japan Inc. needed to be strong for Sharp and others, but it 's not. There is a lesson in there for us.
Edited by Tazishere - 9/10/12 at 3:47pm
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post #12 of 38
9/10/12 at 4:04pm
Our lost decade has just begun (that is, if you don't count the noughties).
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post #13 of 38
9/11/12 at 12:27am
Quote:
Originally Posted by vinnie97 View Post

Beyond what Rogo mentioned, in my experience and that of several other friends (and other stories I've heard) is they didn't exactly try very hard to stay out of the race to the bottom, as evidence suggests (i.e. Xplod vehicle head units that were notoriously infamous for overheating and let's not forget the huge battery recall fiasco in the noughties, and I've heard plenty of QC problems with their TV sets, the specifics of which I presently forget). My beef does come from a combination of their aforementioned lack of quality control, their cutthroat monopolizing business methods and how they have no qualms if it causes inconvenience for their customers (yes, rootkit). I also preferred HD DVD (more so because it didn't rely upon sluggish Java) along with my prior building history of dislike for the company. The difference is Sony did manage to create a consortium of CEMs with the project while Toshiba was nearly going it alone in comparison. Also, while I can't blame all of it on Sony, the timing of the release of the PS2 and the rabid excitement that ensued upon its release, I feel, is what firmly nailed the coffin in Sega's hardware business (back in the days of my gaming, I was a long-time Sega fan). Finally, their sublabel (BMG/Deconstruction) was responsible for unceremoniously dropping one of my fave electronic artists from their roster without so much as a warning, even after the album (which by most measures was a critical success), had been delivered and leaked as a promo only to be spread over all the Internet, delaying its eventual proper release by at least 6 months.
All of the above ("death by 1000 cuts") outweighs the areas where I appreciate their input (including the CD, not forgetting Philips' role, and the minidisc, which was a marvel that they priced out of contention; incidentally, the one MD unit I owned was manufactured by Sharp) and the structural makeup of the Blu-ray disc itself (not the clunky cluster that is the Java operating system upon which it relies). The VHS-beta war wasn't really on my radar at the time, and given they lost it, I can't rail against them. It contained the higher quality video output (like BD in comparison to HD DVD) but lost for other reasons. Still, there would be little love lost from me if Sony folded today.



Well I'm still mad at Sony for the whole sxrd fiasco where they continued to heavily market a product which they very well knew was defective. It was a great set for the2-3 years before they started to fail, but for one of the best tv pq wise n 2006, I now have a rather average edge lit led. Not at all a fair trade.

Also Sony may have won he v.blu ray war, but who really won? Sony lost billions in selling ps3s at a loss while toshiba had a very similar product for half the cost. The hd optical disc market could have been 4-6 times larger by now if hd-DVD could have prevailed. While b.r. Had more capacity at the time, that didn't really matter until after the war was won by Sony and the studios.. Studios win, consumers pay more.

No love lost for Sony if they follow sharp into bk
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post #14 of 38
9/11/12 at 11:02am
I blame Warner Brothers. smile.gif They ultimately disagreed. frown.gif
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post #15 of 38
9/11/12 at 5:02pm
Sony can go the way of the Dodo Bird. This isn't meant to disrespect the poor old Dodo Bird, BTW. Sony has had the worst case of "Not Invented Here Syndrome" that I have ever seen in a consumer electronics company. That is, until they lost their shirts. They can take their ball and go home with it.
The bucked MP3 with their stupid ATRAC, which sounded bad to me. The MiniDisc would have been successful had they simply been MP3. Blu-ray was another Betamax fisco, which Sony lost to VHS. Even CD's were invented by Philips. They were supposed to be 10 cm across, not 12cm. We are stuck with "CD quality" legacy 16bit /44.1Khz digital, which sounds bad to me, and was standardized by Sony. Then they offered their stupid SACD to compete with DVD-Audio, which was superior, and they fractured the high end audio market that way. Then they made their stupid Memory Stick, to compete with SD cards, which were already the standard. All these markets suffered some degree of setbacks because of Sony. None was improved because of Sony. I could on and on, but I'll stop here and not mention their stupid Elcaset to compete with regular cassettes.
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post #16 of 38
9/11/12 at 5:28pm
I have seen a lot of good companies go since I have been into audio and video and we the consumer lose each time one of them fail for no other reason than less competitors.
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post #17 of 38
9/11/12 at 6:35pm
LOL, forgot all about that unnecessary proprietary MemoryStick, definitely another thorn in their side. To be fair, MiniDisc predated the explosion of digital audio in the PC realm and was better suited to replace cassettes (first time I've heard about "Elcaset"), but they priced it in the stratosphere once again. You can bash Blu-ray all day, but they seemed to learn at least one lesson with its launch, not to go it alone.
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post #18 of 38
9/11/12 at 11:21pm
A little Sony bashing is fine. But the revisionist history is becoming laughable.

Blu-Ray won because Sony avoided repeating the mistakes of Betamax. Betamax = no affordable licensing. BluRay = get every single major CE to license before the tech even launched (except Toshiba).

Please, resume bashing ATRAC and Memory Stick at your leisure. Those were especially dumb.

High end audio was never going to exist, whether or not DVD-Audio and SACD had before one. Cheap and ubiquitous (aka MP3) destroys fancy and rare every time.
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post #19 of 38
9/11/12 at 11:51pm
Sharp trims 5000 jobs and cuts salaries.
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post #20 of 38
9/12/12 at 10:14am
Quote:
Originally Posted by irkuck View Post

Sharp trims 5000 jobs and cuts salaries.

Yeah, trying desperately to stave off bankruptcy with every measure they can find.
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post #21 of 38
9/12/12 at 10:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by rogo View Post

A little Sony bashing is fine. But the revisionist history is becoming laughable.
Blu-Ray won because Sony avoided repeating the mistakes of Betamax. Betamax = no affordable licensing. BluRay = get every single major CE to license before the tech even launched (except Toshiba).
Far be it from me to revise history, that's basically what I was saying, except you more properly mentioned licensing. However, there were also other CEMs who had IP established for Blu-ray Disc. All of this probably weighed heavily in Warner's decision given the more likelihood of an entrenched fight between Sony/Pioneer/Panasonic/studio majority and the few HD DVD interests (giants in and of themselves, but only one of them was truly committed to HD DVD becoming the successor, that being Toshiba....Microsoft and Universal were along for the ride for various monetary reasons).
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post #22 of 38
9/13/12 at 5:26am
Wasn't Sharp the first to have a consumer LCD display (non HD)??
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post #23 of 38
9/13/12 at 6:44am
Quote:
Originally Posted by videobruce View Post

Wasn't Sharp the first to have a consumer LCD display (non HD)??

Yes - in 1981. It had a screen size of 14"
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post #24 of 38
9/13/12 at 7:25am
You've come a long way baby. wink.gif

I thought so. Ironic and sad.
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post #25 of 38
9/13/12 at 12:26pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by videobruce View Post

You've come a long way baby. wink.gif
I thought so. Ironic and sad.

Look at all the milestones RCA had. It has been gone for quite some time.
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post #26 of 38
9/14/12 at 7:49am
RCA was both a broadcast and consumer, American company, Sharp is consumer and business, based in Japan.
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post #27 of 38
9/14/12 at 9:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by videobruce View Post

RCA was both a broadcast and consumer, American company, Sharp is consumer and business, based in Japan.

I was saying . . . "how the mighty have fallen" - that's all
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post #28 of 38
9/17/12 at 2:22pm
It's bad enough that the LCD horror story gets worse and worse--now Sharp will fail and LCD quality will get even worse then what it is now!

OLED costs a million dollars and nowadays it's getting harder and harder to get 240Hz at Wal-Mart--it's back to 120 land!

Is it just me or does it seem that QUALITY is going down the toilet and soon all we'll have left is crappy Chinese LCD?

It's looking more and more like OLED is what Muhammed Ali used to call the Great White Hope!

Nobody is turning cartwheels over Panasonic's VT50 and OLED keeps getting farther and farther away and still costs zillions!

Is there less HOPE here at the AVS Forum then there has been in the last 10 years?
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post #29 of 38
9/17/12 at 2:33pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Artwood View Post

It's bad enough that the LCD horror story gets worse and worse--now Sharp will fail and LCD quality will get even worse then what it is now!
OLED costs a million dollars and nowadays it's getting harder and harder to get 240Hz at Wal-Mart--it's back to 120 land!
Is it just me or does it seem that QUALITY is going down the toilet and soon all we'll have left is crappy Chinese LCD?
It's looking more and more like OLED is what Muhammed Ali used to call the Great White Hope!
Nobody is turning cartwheels over Panasonic's VT50 and OLED keeps getting farther and farther away and still costs zillions!
Is there less HOPE here at the AVS Forum then there has been in the last 10 years?

Pioneer proved to the industry that making the highest quality TVs . . . isn't profitable. Not enough people will pay for that kind of quality.

The current problems with OLED can be summed up by my sig below VVVVVVVVVVV
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post #30 of 38
9/18/12 at 4:19am
There is always DLP. wink.gif
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