Panasonic Corporation (パナソニック株式会社, Panasonikku Kabushiki-gaisha), formerly known as Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (松下電器産業株式会社, Matsushita Denki Sangyō Kabushiki-gaisha), is a Japanese multinational electronics corporation headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Japan.
From 1935 to October 1, 2008, the company name was "Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd." On January 10, 2008, the company announced that it would change its name to "Panasonic Corporation", in effect on October 1, 2008, to conform with its global brand name "Panasonic". The name change was approved at a shareholders' meeting on June 26, 2008 after consultation with the Matsushita family.
Panasonic was founded in 1918 by Kōnosuke Matsushita as a vendor of duplex lamp sockets. In 1927, it began producing bicycle lamps, the first product which it marketed under the brand name National.
On May 2, 2002, Panasonic Canada marked its 35th anniversary in that country by giving $5-million to help build a "music city" on Toronto's waterfront.
As of March 31, 2012, Panasonic employed about 330,000 staff and had around 580 subsidiary companies. Panasonic had total revenues of ¥7,846,216 million in 2012, of which 53 percent were generated in Japan, 25 percent in Asia (excluding Japan), 12 percent in the Americas and 10 percent in Europe.
Panasonic Automotive Systems is an original equipment manufacturer of factory installed mobile audio equipment such as headunits, speakers and navigation modules. It is a subcontractor to most major auto manufacturers, supplying virtually every Japanese automaker, along with Europe's largest automaker, Volkswagen and America's largest automaker, General Motors. In 2015, PAS had a revenue of $12.4 billion.
Panasonic Avionics Corporation (PAC), a subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation of North America, is a supplier of in-flight entertainment (IFE) and communication systems. Headquartered in Lake Forest, California where engineering, development and testing is performed while system installation, field engineering, major quality functions, certification and program management are performed at the Bothell, Washington facility - Panasonic Avionics Corporation employs approximately 3,300 employees based in over 70 locations worldwide, with major facilities in London, Toulouse, Hamburg, Dallas, Dubai and Singapore. A majority of the component manufacturing is carried out in Osaka, Japan.
Panasonic Mobile Communications manufactures mobile phone handsets and related equipment. As of 2012, it had around a 20 per cent share of the Japanese handset market. Panasonic used to market mobile phone handsets worldwide, but in December 2005 announced its withdrawal from overseas markets due to poor sales. Panasonic returned to the overseas market in 2012, with the release of the Panasonic Eluga Android-powered smartphone. In July 2013, Panasonic announced the company will not supply a new model of smartphone to NTT DoCoMo Inc., because NTT DoCoMo will focus with Sony and Samsung products. In Q2 2013, Panasonic Mobile Communications booked a 5.4 billion yen operating loss. . From July 2013 to January 2018 Panasonic India has released one more series of Android Smartphones Panasonic P Series, along with Eluga Series.
Panasonic Corporation of North America is Panasonic's principal subsidiary in the United States. It has been headquartered in Newark, New Jersey since 2013, after being previously headquartered in Secaucus, since the 1980s; both Newark and Secaucus are located within New Jersey's Gateway Region.
Panasonic's principal subsidiaries in Europe are Panasonic Europe Ltd. and Panasonic Marketing Europe GmbH. Panasonic employs around 12,000 people in Europe, and the region generates around 10 per cent of its total revenues. In 2012, Panasonic had around a 10 per cent share of the consumer electronics market in Europe, ranking third behind Samsung Electronics (with 26 per cent) and LG Electronics (with 12 per cent).
Mr. Daizo Ito serves as Group President for Panasonic Regional Headquarters India (situated in Haryana) at Panasonic India Pvt Ltd.
PT Panasonic Gobel Indonesia (formerly known as PT National Gobel Indonesia) is the name of the company's Indonesia division based in Cawang, East Jakarta. Hiroyoshi Suga is the current President Director and Rachmat Gobel is the current President Commissioner. Gobel is also the President Commissioner of Indosat. Panasonic Gobel Indonesia is a joint venture between Panasonic Corporation Japan and the Gobel Group of Indonesia.
Panasonic used to own Universal Studios and its parent company MCA Inc. since acquiring the company in 1990 but sold it to Seagram in 1995. Universal Studios is now a unit of NBCUniversal, which is now owned by Philadelphia-based Comcast.
Panasonic offers a wide range of products and services, including air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, compressors, lighting, televisions, personal computers, mobile phones, audio equipment, cameras, broadcasting equipment, projectors, automotive electronics, aircraft in-flight entertainment systems, semiconductors, lithium batteries, electrical components, optical devices, bicycles, electronic materials and photovoltaic modules. Ventilation appliances such as electric fans are manufactured under KDK and rebranded as Panasonic.
Panasonic Corporation sells virtually all of its products and services worldwide under the Panasonic brand, having phased out the Sanyo brand in the first quarter of 2012. The company has sold products under a number of other brand names during its history.
Panasonic sponsors the German football player Marco Reus, who plays for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund and Germany.
Panasonic was a primary sponsor of Toyota's Formula One program, Panasonic Toyota Racing. Hiro Matsushita, grandson of the company founder, is a former race car driver who ran a company overseeing sponsorship arrangements for the company.
Panasonic is ranked in joint 11th place (out of 16) in Greenpeace’s Guide to Greener Electronics, which ranks electronics manufacturers on policies and practices to reduce their impact on the climate, produce greener products and make their operations more sustainable. The company is one of the top scorers on the Products criteria, praised for its good product life cycles and the number of products which are free from polyvinyl chloride plastic (PVC). It also scores maximum points for the energy efficiency of its products with 100 percent of its TVs meeting the latest Energy Star standards and exceeding the standby power requirement.
Panasonic, The quest for zero defeat(1996–2003)
- "What's New Panasonic" (1996–2003)
- "Ideas for Life" (2003–2013)
- "A Better Life, A Better World" (2013–2017)
- "Let's Live Life Better" (2017-2018)
