Troubled Japanese conglomerate Toshiba has launched a lawsuit against Western Digital over claims it interfered in attempts to sell the memory chip unit they jointly own.
T roubled Japanese conglomerate Toshiba has launched a lawsuit against Western Digital over claims it interfered in attempts to sell the memory chip unit they jointly own.
Toshiba is seeking damages of around 120bn yen (£835m) and accusing Western of “continually interfering with the bid process” as it looks to offload the business to raise much-needed cash.
US-based Western, which jointly runs Toshiba’s main semiconductor plant, has been resisting the sale of the chip arm to an interested group of investors.
Toshiba is hoping the sale will cover losses from its nuclear division. The sprawling Japanese conglomerate has warned that it could struggle to stay in business and last week lost its top-tier listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange after revealing that its losses overwhelmed the value of the company.
Western has said Toshiba should negotiate exclusively with it before any sale, and has warned that a sale may be a violation of their contract.
Toshiba has now said that Western, which has a 49pc stake in the chip unit, has “exaggerated” the amount of say it has in the sale of the business.
