Victim of the crisis: OLED joint venture by Sony & Panasonic goes bankrupt

The display manufacturer JOLED, founded by the two Japanese electronics groups Sony and Panasonic, is bankrupt. After a massive slump in sales, the company has lost so much value that it has now had to file for bankruptcy.

Like the Japanese Economic Service Nike Asia reported, the severe deterioration in the global economic situation triggered by the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and the resulting sharp drop in demand in the market for electronic products has now claimed a prominent victim. JOLED is bankrupt.

JOLED has never been able to operate profitably

The company, which was only created in 2015 by merging the display divisions of Sony and Panasonic, has filed for bankruptcy with the responsible authorities in Japan. Most recently, the company’s debt had risen to around 33 billion yen, which corresponds to around 230 million euros.

JOLED is now set to be partially acquired by Japan Display, one of the investors involved in the ailing company. Originally, JOLED wanted to use the extensive experience of the Sony and Panasonic departments specializing in OLED technologies to produce large-area OLED panels that were to be sold at comparatively low prices.

However, all the know-how was not enough to ever let the company work profitably. As early as March 2022 it became apparent that JOLED would not last much longer. Even then, the debt exceeded the company’s value. Japan Display is now to take over the remaining assets of JOLED, which include a plant in the Japanese city of Chiba that only opened in 2019.

See also:

Display, Screen, Foldable Display, Foldable, Led, LG Display, MicroLED, Micro-LED, PPI, Freeform Display, stretchable
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