Dutch electronics giant Philips is exiting the consumer electronics business, selling off its assets in that industry to Japanese company Funai Electric for the firesale price of just over $200 million, so relatively little that the amount was almost a “token sum” as The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.
The move marks an inauspicious end to the division of the company that invented the audio casette and the videocasette recorder, which did not make a successful transition into the era of digital and online multimedia. Still, Philips itself has seen success as it pivots into more profitable markets, namely hospital equipment and lighting. A Philips control system powers the lighting for the Empire State Building in New York, The Journal noted.
