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Apple Supply Partner Japan Display Suffers Ninth Successive Quarterly Loss

Apple LCD iPhone display supplier Japan Display has reported its ninth consecutive quarterly net loss. The display maker is suffering from the shift by Apple from LCD display panels to OLED displays. The company recently saw an expected financial bailout put on hold.

Japan Display saw its fifth straight year of losses. The company’s fourth-quarter loss was 98.6 billion yen ($899.22 million), reports Reuters. The company’s loss for the last year was just under 109.4 billion yen, nearly a billion US dollars.

The display maker also announced that it was taking a $68 million (75.2 billion yen) write-down on one of its panel plants. The company expects to cut around 1,000 jobs, which amounts to around 10% of its workforce.

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Japan Display’s 80 billion yen ($729.3 million) bailout has been put on hold while a Chinese-Taiwanese investment group takes another look at the potential the deal could provide in returns to the funds.

The group is made up of the Chinese investment firm Harvest Group and Taiwanese display firm TPK Holding, among others. The group has informed the company that they will make a decision “after re-examining the prospects for Japan Display’s business performance,” adding there was no time frame for the review.

Japan Display did see one bright spot in the recent doom and gloom, as in April came word that the firm will reportedly begin to supply organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens for the Apple Watch later this year. The deal would mark the Japanese firm’s first foray into the OLED display market.

Chris Hauk

Chris is a Senior Editor at Mactrast. He lives somewhere in the deep Southern part of America, and yes, he has to pump in both sunshine and the Internet.