Latest news with #Panasonic
Fast Company
an hour ago
- Business
- Fast Company
Panasonic announces new CEO, a former Boeing executive
TECH Kenneth William Sain will be Panasonic's president and chief executive, effective April 2026. FILE – A businessman walks past a corporate logo of Japanese electronics maker Panasonic Corp. at Panasonic Center in Tokyo, Japan, Sept. 10, 2009. [Photo: Shizuo Kambayashi, File/AP Photo] BY Listen to this Article More info 0:00 / 2:13 Japanese electronics and technology company Panasonic has chosen a new chief executive after eking out a 1.2% rise in its first quarter profit. Kenneth William Sain, a former Boeing executive, will replace Yasuyuki Higuchi as Panasonic's president and chief executive in April 2026, the company said Wednesday. Sain joined Panasonic in 2019 as CEO of Panasonic Avionics. 'Ken is an exceptional leader with extensive global experience and a deep understanding of business and technology,' Higuchi said in a statement. Panasonic Holdings Corp.'s April-June profit totaled 71.46 billion yen ($483 million), up from 70.6 billion yen. Its quarterly sales declined 10.6% from last year to 1.9 trillion yen ($12.8 billion). The Osaka-based maker of home appliances, solar panels and batteries for Tesla vehicles kept its full year profit forecast unchanged at 310 billion yen ($2.1 billion), down 15% from the previous year. Panasonic said the impact from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs was not yet fully factored in. The company said it will try to minimize the effect on its operating profit with cost cuts and other measures. Consumer electronics sales were strong in Japan, Panasonic said, while they were also healthy in China, supported by subsidies. On the positive side, it said demand for AI servers and air-conditioners was expected to grow. But concerns remain about slowing demand for electric vehicles because of U.S. tariffs and the ending of tax credits. Panasonic also said it's planning to get rolling later this year its new lithium-ion battery factory in Kansas, whose start has been delayed. Panasonic said in May that it was slashing its global workforce by 10,000 people, half in Japan and half overseas, to become 'lean.' The job cuts amount to about 4% of its workforce. Yuri Kageyama is on Threads: —Yuri Kageyama, AP Business Writer The early-rate deadline for Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies Awards is Friday, September 5, at 11:59 p.m. PT. Apply today. Sign up for our weekly tech digest. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Privacy Policy Explore Topics CEO japan Panasonic
Forbes
an hour ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
The 2025 Value Electronics TV Shootout Results Are In—And The Winner Is…
The latest annual Value Electronics TV Shootout event took place over the weekend, pitting a quartet of 2025's most impressive TVs against both each other and the critical eyes of a judging panel of AV industry experts and luminaries. And after multiple rounds of judging across a variety of standard and high dynamic range picture quality categories, the overall winner was [drum roll please]… the Sony Bravia 8 II. Joining a 65-inch Bravia 8 II for this year's exceptionally heavyweight Value Electronics face off were 65-inch versions of Panasonic's Z95B range, Samsung's S95F range, and LG's G5 range. This for me adds up to the most all-round competitive roster of TVs that Value Electronics has ever put together for one of its shootouts – which of course makes Sony's overall victory with the Bravia 8 II all the more impressive. The judges hard at work during 2025's Value Electronics TV Shootout. The 2025 event took place on Saturday July 26 at Value Electronics' showroom in Scarsdale, New York, and featured all four TVs running side by side to make it easier for the judges to directly evaluate each set's capabilities across a wide range of picture attributes including: SDR Contrast/Grayscale, SDR Color, SDR Processing, SDR Bright Living Room, HDR Dynamic range/EOTF accuracy, HDR color, HDR processing, and HDR Bright Living Room performance. The four TVs were also set alongside, for reference, two of Sony's BVM-HX3110 professional mastering monitors, and each TV was fully calibrated by industry experts to make sure they could deliver their best efforts on a relatively even playing field. The tests comprised a mixture of test patterns and 'real world' content. The judging panel awarded each TV a score from 1 to 5 in each image performance category, with the average mark from the judges' scores becoming that category's final score. The average scores for each category were then themselves averaged out to give each of the four TVs overall average scores for SDR and HDR performance, with the SDR and HDR scores ultimately being added together to give us the final winner. Putting the four contenders through their TV paces at the 2025 Value Electronics shootout. Playing a big part in the Sony Bravia 8 II's overall victory was its SDR performance. It achieved the highest score in two of the four SDR attribute categories, helping it achieve a fairly substantial lead over the second-best rated TV for SDR, Samsung's S95F. Panasonic's Z95B came in right on the Samsung's heels for SDR, with LG's G5 bringing up the rear. Sony's TV didn't actually win the high dynamic range part of the shoot out, though. Here the victor was the Panasonic Z95B, which, like Sony in the SDR category, achieved the highest score in two of the four HDR attribute categories. The other two HDR categories were won by Samsung's S95F, leaving it a hair's breadth - literally .01 of a point - behind the Panasonic with its overall HDR score. Sony came in third for HDR, with the LG fourth. So if you find yourself watching HDR much more than SDR these days, you might want to consider the Panasonic Z95B or Samsung S95F ahead of Sony's overall winner. Final rankings with SDR and HDR scores added together found Samsung's S95F taking second place, Panasonic's Z95B bagging third, and LG's G5 occupying the final spot. Here's the full break down of scores, with the winning total in each category highlighted in yellow: The full set of results from the 2025 Value Electronics TV Shootout. Value Electronics has been a custom A/V integrator since 1998, with a retail showroom in the Village of Scarsdale, NY. Owners Wendy and Robert Zohn created and began sponsoring the annual TV Shootout event in 2004. — Related Reading Sony Unveils New Bravia TVs—Including A Premium QD OLED Range Panasonic Unveils Full 2025 OLED And LCD TV Line Up—Including 'Revolutionary' ThermalFlow OLED Samsung Goes Big On 'Vision AI,' 8K And Lifestyle TVs At CES
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Automotive
- Time of India
Panasonic's battery unit profit grows 47% y/y in Q1 on AI boom
Panasonic on Wednesday said operating profit at its battery-making energy unit grew strongly in the first quarter due to the AI investment boom , offsetting negative impacts from US tariffs and the termination of electric vehicle tax credits . Profit for the key unit, which makes batteries for Tesla and other EV makers, rose 47 per cent year-on-year to 31.9 billion yen ($215.6 million). "Concerns remain over a further slowdown in EV demand due to US tariff policies and termination of IRA 30D tax credit", Panasonic said in a presentation slide, but noted demand for data centre-bound energy storage systems is "growing more than anticipated". For the full-year that ends in March 2026, the company kept its operating profit forecast for the energy unit at 167 billion yen. Panasonic Holdings said in May it would cut 10,000 staff and expected to book restructuring costs of 130 billion yen as part of a push to improve group profitability. The electronics manufacturer said at the time it did not expect to book any restructuring costs in its energy business. Last week, Panasonic Energy's major customer Tesla warned of fallout from the US government's legislation to cut a $7,500 tax credit for EV buyers. Panasonic Energy operates a plant in the US state of Nevada that provides batteries to Tesla and earlier this month started production at its second US plant, in Kansas. It also makes energy storage systems for data centres in its consumer business, which in the April-June quarter saw a rapid rise in demand owing to massive AI-related investments, the company said. But both auto batteries and consumer energy storage systems would see certain impact from US President Donald Trump's tariffs, it added, without providing the impact forecast in numerical terms. Panasonic Energy is investing in new battery technologies as it competes with Chinese and South Korean rivals such as CATL and LG Energy Solution (LGES) in the global EV supply chain. Last week, LGES warned of slowing demand by early next year due to US tariffs and policy uncertainties after it reported a profit jump for the April-June period.
2 hours ago
- Business
Japan's Panasonic announces a new chief at its group company as its profits barely hold up
TOKYO -- Japanese electronics and technology company Panasonic has chosen a new chief executive at a group company after eking out a 1.2% rise in its first-quarter profit. Kenneth William Sain, a former Boeing executive, will replace Yasuyuki Higuchi as Panasonic Connect's president and chief executive in April 2026, the company said Wednesday. Panasonic Connect offers solutions and products for various supply chains, public services, infrastructure and entertainment sectors. Sain joined Panasonic in 2019 as CEO of Panasonic Avionics. 'Ken is an exceptional leader with extensive global experience and a deep understanding of business and technology,' Higuchi said in a statement. Panasonic Holdings Corp.'s April-June profit totaled 71.46 billion yen ($483 million), up from 70.6 billion yen. Its quarterly sales declined 10.6% from last year to 1.9 trillion yen ($12.8 billion). The Osaka-based maker of home appliances, solar panels and batteries for Tesla vehicles kept its full year profit forecast unchanged at 310 billion yen ($2.1 billion), down 15% from the previous year. Panasonic said the impact from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs was not yet fully factored in. The company said it will try to minimize the effect on its operating profit with cost cuts and other measures. Consumer electronics sales were strong in Japan, Panasonic said, while they were also healthy in China, supported by subsidies. On the positive side, it said demand for AI servers and air-conditioners was expected to grow. But concerns remain about slowing demand for electric vehicles because of U.S. tariffs and the ending of tax credits. Panasonic also said it's planning to get its new lithium-ion battery factory in Kansas fully operational later this year, after a delayed start. Panasonic said in May that it was slashing its global workforce by 10,000 people , half in Japan and half overseas, to become 'lean.' The job cuts amount to about 4% of its workforce.
Globe and Mail
3 hours ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Japan's Panasonic announces a new chief at its group company as its profits barely hold up
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese electronics and technology company Panasonic has chosen a new chief executive at a group company after eking out a 1.2% rise in its first-quarter profit. Kenneth William Sain, a former Boeing executive, will replace Yasuyuki Higuchi as Panasonic Connect's president and chief executive in April 2026, the company said Wednesday. Panasonic Connect offers solutions and products for various supply chains, public services, infrastructure and entertainment sectors. Sain joined Panasonic in 2019 as CEO of Panasonic Avionics. 'Ken is an exceptional leader with extensive global experience and a deep understanding of business and technology,' Higuchi said in a statement. Panasonic Holdings Corp.'s April-June profit totaled 71.46 billion yen ($483 million), up from 70.6 billion yen. Its quarterly sales declined 10.6% from last year to 1.9 trillion yen ($12.8 billion). The Osaka-based maker of home appliances, solar panels and batteries for Tesla vehicles kept its full year profit forecast unchanged at 310 billion yen ($2.1 billion), down 15% from the previous year. Panasonic said the impact from U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs was not yet fully factored in. The company said it will try to minimize the effect on its operating profit with cost cuts and other measures. Consumer electronics sales were strong in Japan, Panasonic said, while they were also healthy in China, supported by subsidies. On the positive side, it said demand for AI servers and air-conditioners was expected to grow. But concerns remain about slowing demand for electric vehicles because of U.S. tariffs and the ending of tax credits. Panasonic also said it's planning to get its new lithium-ion battery factory in Kansas fully operational later this year, after a delayed start. Panasonic said in May that it was slashing its global workforce by 10,000 people , half in Japan and half overseas, to become 'lean.' The job cuts amount to about 4% of its workforce.
