Panasonic to Boost Profits or Consider ‘Best Owner’ for Units

Panasonic Holdings Corp. will seek to improve the profitability of underperforming units over the next two years while considering whether it’s the “best owner” for the businesses, Chief Executive Officer Yuki Kusumi said.

The Japanese electronics maker’s decision last year to sell part of its automotive systems unit to affiliates of Apollo Global Management Inc. for ¥311 billion ($2 billion) was driven by such considerations, Kusumi said in a group interview Tuesday. “But our goal is not to sell,” he added.

Panasonic adopted a holding company structuretwo years ago, a revamp aimed at making each division more accountable for ...