Toshiba CEO resigns over $1.2 billion accounting scandal

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A total of eight Toshiba executives have resigned after an independent inquiry found the company had inflated its profits by $1.2 billion (£784.2 million) over a period of several years.

Toshiba chief executive Hisao Tanaka and his two predecessors resigned at a press conference in Tokyo after an external investigation revealed the scale of the problem and the executives' knowledge of the wrongdoing.

The company had been tasked with investigating Toshiba's accounts and subsequently found that Toshiba had overstated its operating profit by 151.8 billion yen, roughly three times Toshiba's initial estimate.

The irregularties are said to have happened over a period dating back to the financial crash in 2008.

Reuters reports that Tanaka was said to have been aware that the numbers didn't add up, and complicit in overstating profits and delaying the reporting of losses.

Toshiba, which has a market cap of $13.6 billion, will now aim to correct its accounts with an interim CEO, chairman Masashi Muromachi.

Shares in Toshiba rose six per cent following the news of the personnel changes but remain down around 20 per cent since the investigation became public knowledge back in April.

Toshiba announced at the start of 2015 that it would be all but exiting the TV market, making new sets solely for its native Japan.

We have however seen a new Blu-ray player, the BDX5500, and a new soundbar, the SB3950M1, from the company this year.

See all our Toshiba news and reviews

Joe Cox
Joe Cox
Content Director

Joe is the Content Director for What Hi-Fi? and Future’s Product Testing, having previously been the Global Editor-in-Chief of What Hi-Fi?. He has worked on What Hi-Fi? across the print magazine and website for almost 20 years, writing news, reviews and features on everything from turntables to TVs, headphones to hi-fi separates. He has covered product launch events across the world, from Apple to Technics, Sony and Samsung; reported from CES, the Bristol Show, and Munich High End for many years; and written for sites such as the BBC, Stuff, and the Guardian. In his spare time, he enjoys expanding his vinyl collection and cycling (not at the same time).