Japan's Pioneer Corp will end development of conventional DVD recorders and seek a tie-up with Matsushita Electric Industrial in next-generation models in a bid to turn the loss-making business around, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said on Sunday.
Pioneer is the world's fourth-largest player in the DVD recorder market after Matsushita, Philips Electronics and Sony Corp, but it has been losing money due to fierce price competition and heavy development costs.
After finishing work on models still under development, Pioneer will stop all development of current-generation DVD recorders and consider buying DVD recorders from other makers for sale under its own brand, the Nihon Keizai said.
The newspaper said Pioneer would continue development of next-generation DVD recorders using Blu-ray technology, and would propose an alliance with Matsushita that would include Pioneer procuring chips and software from its larger rival.
Matsushita, maker of Panasonic brand products, is expected to agree to the tie-up, the paper said.
A Matsushita spokesman said it had not received an official request from Pioneer for a tie-up. Pioneer officials could not be reached for comment.
Pioneer President Tamihiko Sudo told Reuters in March that he was looking for a partner in the DVD recorder business to share hefty software and chip development costs.
Pioneer has been cutting jobs and closing factories and related costs, along with losses on DVD recorders and plasma televisions, pushed it to a record net loss of 85 billion yen ($760.8 million) in the business year ended March 31.
Pioneer is scheduled to hold a briefing on Tuesday to update on its restructuring and corporate strategy.
Pioneer will transfer engineers working on DVD recorder development to its relatively healthy car electronics division, the Nihon Keizai said.
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