Toshiba let activists in to survive 2017, then paid ¥2 trillion to buy them all out

In 2015 Toshiba disclosed it had overstated operating profit by about ¥151.8 billion across seven years; three successive CEOs resigned and the stock was flagged for delisting risk. Two years later its US nuclear unit Westinghouse filed for Chapter 11, forcing Toshiba to absorb roughly ¥950 billion in losses and pushing it into negative net equity.

To avoid delisting, Toshiba raised about ¥600 billion in a December 2017 emergency share placement. Roughly 60 foreign activist and event-driven funds — including Effissimo, Farallon, Elliott Management and Third Point — bought 25–30% of the company at around ¥2,628 a share. Their demands for buybacks, asset sales and board seats produced years of open conflict, and in 2021 an independent probe confirmed Toshiba had colluded with Japan's trade ministry to suppress foreign shareholders' votes against activist-backed director nominees; the chairman was voted out that year.

With activist blocs able to defeat management proposals but no faction able to set strategy, Toshiba became functionally ungovernable as a public company. In March 2023 its board accepted a takeover from a Japan Industrial Partners-led, all-domestic consortium of roughly 20 companies at ¥4,620 a share, valuing Toshiba at about ¥2 trillion (roughly $14 billion), financed with about ¥800 billion in equity and a ¥1.2 trillion loan syndicate led by SMBC, Mizuho, MUFG and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank.

A tender offer that opened in August 2023 drew 78.65% acceptance by its September close, and Toshiba delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange on December 20, 2023, ending 74 years as a listed company. Under JIP ownership it then cut costs it had been unable to push through while public: a 2024 plan to shed roughly 5,000 domestic jobs, about 10% of its Japan workforce, at a one-time cost near ¥100 billion.