Reports noted that Toshiba is likely making the sale to recoup from massive losses to its nuclear business. The company had been building reactors in the US, but higher safety regulations in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster have severely impeded progress. Toshiba's US-based nuclear operations filed for bankruptcy earlier this year.

Toshiba isn't the first Japanese tech company to sell off its TV division elsewhere. In a long-protracted deal, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Foxconn formally acquired Sharp for $3.5 billion in March 2016. But the year before, Sharp sold its Mexican factory for a song ($23.7 million) and the rights to produce TVs under its name in North America... to Hisense. (The Foxconn-owned Sharp is now trying to get those rights back due to Hisense's reportedly shoddy televisions ruining its good name.)