It's Official: Pioneer to Quit TV Biz

Rumors of the demise of Pioneer's unprofitable TV business were spot-on, as the company this morning announced it will quit selling plasma TVs by March of next year. About 10,000 workers will be laid off as a result.

Pioneer always seemed to me to be searching for its identity in the flat-panel TV industry. At the low end are manufacturers like Vizio (which coincidentally announced today that it will quit making plasma displays to focus exclusively on LCD TVs), in the middle are behemoths like Panasonic and Samsung, and at the top are high-end makers like Runco. Pioneer sought to be at the higher end of the spectrum but particularly once it started buying its plasma panels from Panasonic, it had trouble justifying the premiums it was charging.