Toshiba to Pay $5.4 Billion for Westinghouse

Philip writes "Business electronics firm Toshiba is bidding for 100% control of Westinghouse - famous for making blenders and LCD televisions, but principally in the business of building nuclear reactors. 'By 2020 the market for nuclear power generation is expected to grow 50 percent compared to 2005,' Toshiba CEO Nishida said at a London news conference. 'Toshiba is responding to this challenge by acquiring Westinghouse.'"

Comments

Business Acumen, not National Security

[reporter]

There is no national-security issue when another Western nation (which is Japan, in this case) buys an energy producer or an energy facilitator (like companies that produce nuclear power plants).

I do see a larger issue: business acumen. Most American businesses knew, for a while, that nuclear power would come into vogue again. Did they not read the comments by Patrick Moore? He co-founded Greenspeace, the pinnacle of pro-environment thought. Even Moore supports the use of nuclear power and sees that we must use it in order to protect the environment.

I just read that GM may go into bankruptcy. 10 years later, will ExxonMobile follow? Why didn't ExxonMobile buy Westinghouse?

Why are American business conglomerates so sluggish in responding to business opportunities? Small American companies like Google are swift and nimble, but American conglomerates are slow as a snail. Clearly, size is not the problem because Toshiba just snatched Westinghouse.