JPY

Panasonic Corp.'s plans to take over rival Sanyo Electric Co. would create the world's second-largest electronics maker. But Panasonic already has plenty of gadgets. Instead, the crown jewels Panasonic wants from Sanyo are green.

Industrial conglomerate Siemens AG is poised to sell its 50-percent stake in the joint venture Fujitsu Siemens Computers to Japan's Fujitsu Group, two people familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on Monday.

Siemens has been contemplating a sale of its half in the joint venture at least since August. Chief Executive Peter Loescher said then that the company was in talks with Fujitsu about the fate of the unit, which makes personal computers and laptops and posted sales of 6.6 billion euros but a pretax profit of just 105 million euros last year.

After nearly a century of existence, Matsushita Electric Industrial is ditching its founder's name to trade under one name globally -- Panasonic, its best-known brand -- hoping this and an $11 billion reserve of cash will increase its growth outside Japan and help the company compete with rivals like Samsung and Sony.

Expansion overseas is an urgent task for Matsushita, which earns half its revenue from its home base of Japan, where the population is aging. Sony earns more than three quarters of its sales outside Japan, helped in part by its strong brand name.

Later this week, Nintendo will hold its annual fall conference and product presentation, with simultaneous press conferences in Tokyo and San Francisco. Thanks to the Japanese Nikkei news outlet, rumors are swirling that the company is planning to announce an updated version of the Nintendo DS equipped with a camera and music-playing capabilities.

Nintendo Co.'s profit for the fiscal first quarter surged 34 percent from a year ago as sales of its hit Wii shot up, underlining the success of the video game console in attracting novice players.

The Japanese manufacturer of Super Mario and Pokémon video games reported Wednesday a 107.27 billion yen (US$996 million) profit for April-June, up from 80.25 billion yen the same period the previous year.

The big factor behind the stellar performance was the Wii and its game software, including the "Wii Fit," which has drawn the health-conscious to simple exercises like yoga and aerobics.

Sony Corp. said Tuesday its April-June profit plunged to 34.98 billion yen ($326.9 million) -- about half that recorded a year ago -- as a strong yen, the absence of "Spider-Man 3" revenue and faltering results at its cell phone operations battered earnings.

The Japanese electronics and entertainment company, which makes the Walkman player and the PlayStation 3 game machine, had recorded 66.46 billion yen in profit for the fiscal first quarter the previous year.

Nintendo does not plan to cut prices of its popular Wii gaming console or DS handheld game system anytime soon, the company's president said Friday.

While the price of hardware is usually reduced over time, that could leave gamers who bought early feeling ripped off, Satoru Iwata said a day after the company reported record annual profits.

"I don't think that model is correct," Iwata said, despite signs that sales of the DS may be tapering off.

Electronics said Friday its profit rose 37 percent in the first quarter as strength in mobile phones and liquid crystal displays offset weakness in semiconductors.

But Japanese electronics maker Toshiba Corp. said its profit plummeted 95 percent in the January-March quarter due to costs of its exit from next-generation video HD DVD business.

And Samsung memory chip rival Hynix Semiconductor Inc. said it swung to a quarterly loss on a sharp decline in chip prices amid oversupply in the industry.