JVC Kenwood Holdings Inc. will keep Victor Entertainment Inc. and aim to rehabilitate its struggling business with the music software company as the core operation under its wing, sources said Saturday.
JVC Kenwood, which was earlier considering selling the subsidiary, has said Masaaki Saito, a former president of Toshiba EMI Ltd., now EMI Music Japan Inc., will serve as Victor Entertainment's president effective Dec. 1 as part of efforts to prop up the business.
Victor Entertainment is widely known for famous bands and artists on its books, such as Southern All Stars and SMAP, and ranks fourth in the Japanese music software industry after Universal Music LLC, Avex Group Holdings Inc. and Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) Inc.
But JVC Kenwood, established via a management integration between Victor Co. of Japan, known as JVC, and Kenwood Corp. in October 2008, has been suffering from poor earnings due to the effects of the global recession, as well as falls in CD sales due to the recent increase in music distribution over the Internet.
The holding company has been implementing a downsizing program under which it has been shrinking its television business and cutting back its workforce.