Japanese conglomerate Toshiba has confirmed its plan to break into three separate firms on Friday, November 12. The three companies will focus on infrastructure, semiconductors, and devices. Toshiba’s strategy is to concentrate on two key businesses: energy and infrastructure and devices and storage operation. Additionally, the company will retain a 40.6% ownership in memory chipmaker Kioxia including other assets. The goal is to increase the stock market prices of Toshiba’s various companies after suffering shareholder pressure. The reorganization is expected to be completed in the second half of 2023, but analysts are concerned about the timeline for the adjustments. “The move is in the right direction, but it seems slow,” said Atul Goyal of investment bank Jefferies. He noted that 2023 is “a long way out” and that a three-to-six-month schedule would be preferable.

Toshiba dates back to the 1870s and is one of Japan’s oldest and largest firms with businesses that range from home electronics to nuclear power plants. However, the company has undergone significant reforms in recent years following the fallout of an accounting scandal and substantial losses tied to its US nuclear unit. Hisao Tanaka, Toshiba’s then-chief executive and president, resigned in 2015 after the company admitted to overstating profits by more than $1 billion for six years. It liquidated its crown-jewel memory chip company in 2018 to avoid bankruptcy. The corporate’s decision to split into three firms symbolizes the end of an era, but it also underlines the growing influence of activist investors, who successfully ousted the board’s chairperson in June.