By Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 5/26/2009 8:56:00 AM

Tokyo — As part of its structural reform plan announced last March, Hitachi said Monday that it will split off its consumer business group July 1 and establish a new wholly owned subsidiary called Hitachi Consumer Electronics Co.

Shutoku Watanabe, current Hitachi business group president and CEO, will serve as the new company’s president and representative director. Hitachi said the split was made due to the continued challenging business environment for consumer electronics products, which has forced Hitachi to “convert to a low-risk operating structure and improve earnings.”

These efforts have included “sourcing glass panel components used in plasma TVs from outside the Hitachi group and rightsizing the workforce since the previous fiscal year,” the company said.

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