Back in 2006 Philips sold its mobile division to Chinese company China Electronics Corporation and today we learn that the same Dutch firm sold 80% of its LED and lighting business to another Chinese outfit. The price was $2.8 billion and right now Philips is pretty much a Chinese company.
Go Scale Capital bought the above mentioned 80%, with a bigger move coming later on. Philips is said to be spinning off its main lighting division, as it focuses on medical technology and some consumer products. The Philips sell also includes many crucial patents, especially ones related to auto lighting. With the phone division already sold to China and now the LED gone the same way, we can’t help but wonder when we’ll start thinking about Philips as an Asian firm, not an European one.
The same thing happened to Alcatel, that was sold to TCL a few years ago, but it’s still considered a French firm. Philips was founded in 1891 in Eindhoven, Netherlands and employs around 112,000 people all over the world. Their advanced lighting technology is crucial for many devices and products, tablets and phones included.
