Korean media: LG Electronics plans to sell its TV business and has recently contacted Hisense

Information from Korean media EBN shows that according to electronics industry and internal sources on the 28th, LG Electronics recently visited Beijing, China, and met with senior officials from Hisense to coordinate a business restructuring plan, including the possibility of selling its TV business unit.

The reasons behind it: market, performance, technology layout

Generally speaking, this restructuring plan is based on the structural weakening of LG Electronics’ TV business profitability and declining global competitiveness. Due to the slowdown in demand in the global TV market and the low-price offensive launched by Chinese companies, LG Electronics' disadvantage in price competition has been deeply rooted.

In the past few years, LG Electronics’ global TV shipment share has been fluctuating around 10%, while TCL and Hisense’s market shares have climbed rapidly. The combined market share of TCL, Hisense and Xiaomi will surpass Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics in 2024.

Judging from LG's performance, the MS division (responsible for media and entertainment solutions such as TVs, monitors, and commercial screens) achieved sales of 5.1694 trillion won and operating profit of 371.8 billion won in the first quarter. Among them, the TV hardware business accounts for about 40% to 60%. The operating profit of the TV business is only about 148.7 billion to 223.1 billion won. Due to continued losses from the second quarter to the fourth quarter of last year, the business unit recorded an operating loss of approximately 750 billion won.

LG MS Division Performance in 2025 and 2024

Moreover, the operating profit margin of the TV business has remained at a low level of around 1% to 2% for a long time, and large fluctuations in quarterly profitability are common. Although LG Electronics has adopted a high-end strategy with OLED as the core, there are still limitations in maintaining overall profit margins. And due to the accumulation of fixed costs such as OLED panel investment, production line maintenance and global logistics, the investment burden of the TV business is gradually exceeding its contribution to LG Electronics' overall cash flow.

In addition, after LG Display stopped domestic production of TV LCD panels, its bargaining power in external procurement declined. The current TV market is still dominated by LCD and Mini LED. OLED has a small share in the high-end market, but its high-cost structure is difficult to change, and maintaining high-end TV business is also a cost burden.

An industry insider said: "Currently, LG Electronics' TV business is part of the MS business unit, so its assets and profit structure are not clearly divided. If the sale plan is ultimately implemented, it is likely to first spin off the TV business unit into an independent entity through methods such as establishing an independent department, and re-evaluate its corporate value. LG is bound to become increasingly inclined to streamline its business portfolio and reorganize around high-value businesses such as platforms and automotive electronics, rather than continuing to maintain a low-profit structure."

LG Electronics has begun to transform into a platform company. Its restructuring plan includes reorganizing the TV-centered home entertainment division into the mobile intelligence division and integrating IT and digital signage businesses. After the spin-off of the TV business, will LG Electronics officially launch a strategy to expand webOS-based services to areas such as displays, digital signage, and vehicle infotainment systems?

Changes in the global television landscape

Judging from the development this year, the overseas television market continues to undergo new changes. Top Japanese brands Toshiba, Sharp, Panasonic, Mitsubishi Electric, and Funai Electric have basically withdrawn from the consumer TV market or significantly reduced their TV business. Sony has cooperated with TCL; Korean brand Samsung has withdrawn from the Chinese market, and LG has also announced a restructuring plan.

On the other side, Chinese companies continue to expand overseas.

In 2026, TCL and Sony signed a final agreement to form a new joint venture. TCL will take over Sony's home entertainment business by subscribing for part of the subsidiary's shares, in which TCL holds 51% and Sony holds 49%.

After Hisense acquired 95% of Toshiba's shares in 2017, it is negotiating with LG this time to further target global market share.

In 2025, Skyworth will take over Philips' North American business, and in 2026, Skyworth will take over Panasonic's European/North American TV business (sales, channels, operations)

As a mature market, the TV market, the main value of Japanese and Korean companies lies in brand, technology, and software. Chinese companies have further expanded their overseas paths through acquisitions. "LED Display Industry Quarterly Analysis Report Q1 (2026)" (details) data shows that the global shipment share from 2021 to 2025, the world's top three brands increased from 41.2% to 46.9%, and China's major brands increased from 35.3% to 41.5%.

Among them, TCL’s TV business’ overseas revenue accounted for 73%, and its overseas gross profit margin was 15.1% (a year-on-year increase of 1.6%). Overseas large-screen adoption accelerated, with shipments of 65 inches and 72 inches and above growing by 50% and 68.2% year-on-year respectively. Hisense’s overseas revenue accounts for 54.27%. The compound annual growth rate of overseas revenue from 2019 to 2025 is 13%, with Japan, South Africa and other markets firmly ranking first.

Today, TV head brand manufacturers are constantly changing, and the Chinese market is gradually concentrating, which is conducive to promoting the development of Mini LED backlight and also conducive to RGB-Mini LED opening up a new growth path.

In this context, it is particularly important to gain insight into the nature of technology and industrial collaboration models. On September 8, 2026, experts say that Display will hold an annual event [Mini LED Backlight Image Quality Advancement and Micro AR Glasses Trend Analysis Meeting]. We sincerely invite colleagues from upstream and downstream of the industry chain to gather together to clarify the evolution of technology, grasp the core needs of the market, and explore your growth path in the wave of certainty in consumer electronics.