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Slashdot Asks: Can Panasonic Reinvent Itself?

(Friday September 05, 2025 @11:20AM (msmash) from the water-taps-running-dry dept.)


Panasonic's market value has remained flat at approximately $25 billion over the past decade while rivals Hitachi, Sony and NEC have increased their valuations sixfold during the same period. The Osaka-based conglomerate announced a restructuring plan in May 2025 to [1]eliminate 10,000 positions and streamline operations across its six operating companies and hundreds of product lines. The company generates $57 billion in annual revenue and maintains dominant positions in several markets. Financial Times [2]reports :

> Within Panasonic's six operating companies and hundreds of product lines are industrial technology gems. The company supplies 70 per cent of the world's in-flight entertainment systems, its facial recognition technology is being used to measure brain health, and its EV battery plants are among the world's most efficient, according to auto industry insiders.

Panasonic chief said in January that AI-driven hardware and software solutions would constitute 30% of revenues by 2035, compared to approximately 10% currently. But Goldman Sachs analyst Ryo Harada wrote recently that investors are seeking a growth strategy beyond the announced reforms.



[1] https://slashdot.org/story/25/05/09/0911253/panasonic-to-cut-10000-jobs

[2] https://www.ft.com/content/f1ff7284-3e7b-40f1-bf31-ccf1c4056fa6



Sony, NEC and Panasonic (Score:2)

by Valgrus Thunderaxe ( 8769977 )

If you ask me to name one product made by Sony or NEC off the top of my head, I don't have an answer. I know Panasonic makes noise/beard hair trimmers.

Re: (Score:2)

by dfghjk ( 711126 )

Do you ever have an answer?

My plug for the non-pluggable (Score:2)

by kackle ( 910159 )

I've found that they have great batteries for the repairs of consumer-grade products...better than the cheapo, no-brand stuff on Amazon, et. al.

Panasonic was a quality brand (Score:2)

by david.emery ( 127135 )

We have a 7 segment AC powered alarm clock by Panasonic from about 1980. It still works, but the labels on the buttons have worn off, and we have to make sure we know which button to push to set clock time vs alarm time. It's the oldest still working vintage technology in the house. There are some Panasonic stereo components in the attic from about the same time, but those need to go to recycling.

They might get a chance to make the next 3DO (Score:1)

by Anonymous Coward

Sony and Microsoft are both trying to figure out how to stop making hardware while holding on to the platforms. Basically they want to be steam.

It's not good for consumers since it means that they want to shift the cost of the hardware onto the consumer the way Nintendo has been able to.

It's a little messed up because they still want that 30% cut versus the roughly 8% cut that 3DO was taking back in the day.

But that's what Microsoft is up to with those Xbox handhelds. And I could see Panasonic a

Re: They might get a chance to make the next 3DO (Score:2)

by Jack Malmostoso ( 899729 )

In the same way it made the previous 3DO?

There was once a programmer who was attached to the court of the
warlord of Wu. The warlord asked the programmer: "Which is easier to design:
an accounting package or an operating system?"
"An operating system," replied the programmer.
The warlord uttered an exclamation of disbelief. "Surely an
accounting package is trivial next to the complexity of an operating
system," he said.
"Not so," said the programmer, "when designing an accounting package,
the programmer operates as a mediator between people having different ideas:
how it must operate, how its reports must appear, and how it must conform to
the tax laws. By contrast, an operating system is not limited my outside
appearances. When designing an operating system, the programmer seeks the
simplest harmony between machine and ideas. This is why an operating system
is easier to design."
The warlord of Wu nodded and smiled. "That is all good and well, but
which is easier to debug?"
The programmer made no reply.
-- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of Programming"