Toshiba chairman to resign over struggling US business

Japanese tech giant Toshiba's chairman Shigenori Shiga, plans to resign over the expected massive write-down in the companys US nuclear business, sources said on Saturday.

Shiga once served as president of the US nuclear unit, Westinghouse Electric Co., which Toshiba has said could face a multi-billion dollar loss due to cost overruns from delays in plant projects, The Japan Times reported.

The industrial conglomerate may announce his resignation on February 14 when it reports its April-December financial results, the sources said. The post of Toshiba chairman is expected to remain vacant after Shiga's resignation.

Westinghouse Chairman Danny Roderick is also expected to step down, but Toshiba President Satoshi Tsunakawa is likely to stay on.

Shiga, Roderick and Tsunakawa took their current posts last June as Toshiba reshuffled its management following an accounting scandal that surfaced in 2015.

Shiga was the vice president in charge of the power systems business when Westinghouse acquired CB&I Stone & Webster in late 2015.

The US nuclear plant construction firm is at the heart of the massive write-down problem.

On Friday, Toshiba said it will spin off its chip business to raise funds to cover the write-down.

--IANS

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