By Ko Terada

Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

Major Japanese electronics manufacturer Panasonic Holdings Corp. has revealed it will hand over its TV sales operations in Europe and North America to China's Skyworth Group Ltd. from April.

The low profitability of its TV business has been an issue for Panasonic, threatened by the emergence of Chinese manufacturers in the market.

TV sales in the two regions will continue to be conducted under the Panasonic brand. Panasonic will maintain its TV sales operations in Japan, where it expects large sales. However, the company said it will discuss what to do with its sales operations in Asia.

Panasonic aims to cut labor and logistics costs by transferring its TV sales operations in Europe and North America. The Japanese company has been working on cost reduction efforts such as outsourcing production of low-price TVs to major Chinese electronics manufacturer TCL Technology Group Corp., while producing some high-end TV models at its own factories in Taiwan and Malaysia.

Shenzhen-based Skyworth is a major home appliance manufacturer that has a strong presence in the TV business. It acquired part of the operations of Japanese electronics manufacturer Funai Electric Co. after the company went bankrupt. Skyworth ranks high in the global TV market, along with Chinese peers Hisense Group Co. and TCL. Going forward, Panasonic also plans to deepen its cooperation with Skyworth in product development.

Japanese manufactures are facing stiff competition with foreign rivals in the TV market. In February 2025, Panasonic listed its TV business as a "challenging operation" that requires consideration of withdrawal or selling, but later announced it will continue its operations. Moves to sell or scale back TV operations are becoming conspicuous among Japanese companies. In January this year, Sony Group Corp. announced it will spin off its TV business and hand it over to a joint venture to be established with TCL.

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This article is from The Yomiuri Shimbun. Neither Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, Barron's nor The Wall Street Journal were involved in the creation of this content.

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February 25, 2026 05:36 ET (10:36 GMT)

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