Sharp to Sell LCD Plant to Foxconn Amid Unprofitable LCD Business; Rakuten Reports 73.4 Billion Yen Q1 Loss with Wireless Improvement

Sharp Corporation announced it will sell its symbolic LCD panel manufacturing plant to its parent company, Foxconn, amid ongoing challenges in its LCD panel business. The company continues to face losses in this segment, with no profitability expected in the fiscal year ending March 2026. Meanwhile, Rakuten Group reported its 19th consecutive quarterly loss for the January to March 2025 period, with a net loss of 73.4 billion yen. This represents an expansion from the 42.3 billion yen loss recorded in the same period the previous year. The losses were attributed to decreased financial income, despite improvements in its wireless business operations. Rakuten's CEO, Hiroshi Mikitani, presented the earnings report using an AI avatar, which showed smooth lip movements but had unnatural speech patterns, including mispronunciations.