A report from the Wall Street Journal reveals that Philips has left consumer electronics after 80 years. The Dutch multinational just sold its entire Lifestyle Entertainment business (encompassing audio, video, multimedia and accessories) to Japanese conglomerate Funai Electric Co. Philips was unable to compete with the low cost Asian manufacturers in the industry and was also impacted by the move from physical media to digital files for audio and video.
"Our consumer lifestyle business was margin dilutive to the group, so it was time to decide to move away from consumer electronics,” said Frans van Houten, Philips’s chief executive.
“Since we have online entertainment, people do not buy Blu-ray and DVD players anymore,” Mr. Van Houten added. Philips will continue its other industrial businesses as well as in lighting products where it is considered one of the leading companies.
Source: WSJ