Toshiba which was among the highest laptop bidders consumers wanted, but as more players crowded into the market and with fewer unique features to offer, Toshiba’s laptops waned in popularity.
Toshiba on August 4th released a statement that it’s deal with selling of its shares has been completed, ending a 35-year run by transferring its remaining minority stake in its PC business to Sharp. Two years ago, Toshiba sold about 80% stake of its PC business to Sharp for $36 million, and Sharp renamed the division to Dynabook. Sharp exercised its right to buy the remaining 20% of shares back in June which has been confirmed completed.
The company made the first PC laptop in 1985: The T1100 boasted internal rechargeable batteries, a 3.5-inch floppy drive, and 256K of memory. ComputerWorld’s 20-year retrospective of the T1100 notes that Toshiba executives were unsure about the portable computer, but eventually came around, and began selling the T1100 for about $2,000.
As a result of the completed deal, Dynabook now fully becomes Sharp’s.