No more Pioneer Kuro's :(

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1117484

 

[annunaki]

That is big but very sad news. When an industry leader has to bow out, times are surely tough.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Yup, if verified next week at their press conference, it is a SAD day for videophiles.

 

[GlocksRock]

avsforms is blocked from my work so I can read that linked thread. What does it say the reason is for discontinuing the Kuro?

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Should have gave this in the first post.

http://www.djnewsplus.com/article/DN-CO-20090206-012275.html?mod=J1&a=T+Wire&h=Pioneer+To+End+TV+Production,+Spin+Off+DVD+Development-Nikkei+

 

[annunaki]

avsforms is blocked from my work so I can read that linked thread. What does it say the reason is for discontinuing the Kuro?

Falling profits & revenue. They are dropping out of the TV biz period.

 

[GlocksRock]

Wow, that really sucks.

 

[E-A-G-L-E-S]

Yup, they priced themselves right out. Darn economy didn't help.
Panasonic is reportedly laying off 'fifteen thousand' employees soon.
Glad I finally picked up my 5020 two days ago.

Now does Sharp or Panasonic get the secrets?

 

[BMXTRIX]

I can't see the Dow Jones site, but this is what was posted at AVS...

and yes, it sounds like it really, really sucks.

02/06 12:12P (DJ) DJ Pioneer To End TV Production, Spin Off DVD
Development-Nikkei
Story 6368 (6752.TO, 6753.TO, 6773.TO, PC, SHCAY, JP3359600008...)
TOKYO (Nikkei)--Pioneer Corp. (6773.TO) will pull the plug on its
loss-ridden television business and shift its DVD player operations to a new
venture with Sharp Corp. (6753.TO) in a sweeping overhaul, The Nikkei reported
in its Thursday morning edition.
The company had been planning to end in-house production of plasma panels by
the end of March and outfit its TVs with Panasonic Corp. (6752.TO) panels
instead. Faced with worsening profit margins, however, it has decided to end
TV development and production altogether.
Pioneer will idle its lone domestic TV factory in Shizuoka Prefecture
sometime this year. Factories in the U.S. and Europe are already slated for
closure.
Sales of Pioneer TVs will continue for the time being. The company has not
yet decided what to do when inventories run out.
Meanwhile, Pioneer will spin off its DVD player operations, which are
equally steeped in losses, to a new company to be set up with Sharp as early
as this spring.
The company plans to eliminate several thousand of its roughly 40,000
groupwide jobs in the year ending March 2010. Pioneer is likely to post a
consolidated net loss of more than Y100 billion for the year ending this
March, wider than the Y78 billion loss it forecast earlier.

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important business and market news, analysis and commentary:
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this link on the day this article is published and the following day.

 

[Phil Taylor]

WOW - that was unexpected - it ain't April 1st yet is it?

 

[TLS Guy]

WOW - that was unexpected - it ain't April 1st yet is it?

Why is it unexpected? I don't think people have taken on board what this economic earthquake means.

The fact is, that everybody has been spinning their wheels trying to get volume and hope they beat their creditors. The American car makers have not made a profit on any models for five years. Toyota made a modest profit on the Prius, the hybrid Camry, was and is sold well below production costs

Nobody has been making a profit on almost anything for some time. The credit markets should never be allowed to get as free as they have been again.

So all manufacturers are going to have to make a decent profit on everything, and with a smaller sales base to boot. "Bling" and high consumption are rapidly becoming unfashionable even among the wealthy.

Expect prices of audio gear to be about two to three times higher item for item coming out of this mess. If the new Obama regs continue, and especially if we move to new technologies, like nano hole hydrogen storage, expect cars to start about $100,000, and range to somewhere between $250,000 and $350,000.

If Pioneer were seriously going to produce that TV coming out the other side of the mess, pricing would likely have to be $20,000 to $30,000. So they decided to scratch.

 

[yettitheman]

That sucks....
Maybe Pioneer will work on LCD's??
Doubt it, I would think they would like out of the display business all together. But, I don't work for them.. so, yeah.