About Bridgestone Corporation:
Bridgestone is a global leader in tires and rubber building on its expertise to provide solutions for safe and sustainable mobility. Headquartered in Tokyo, the company employs approximately 140,000 people globally and conducts business in more than 150 countries and territories worldwide. Bridgestone offers a diverse product portfolio of premium tires and advanced solutions backed by innovative technologies, improving the way people around the world move, live, work and play.
News - 2021
Bridgestone Sells All Stocks of a Tennis Ball Sales and Manufacturing Company in Thailand; Progress of Restructuring Diversified Products Business Based on Mid Term Business Plan (2021-2023)
2021/12/06
Tokyo (December 6, 2021) ― Bridgestone Corporation (Bridgestone) announced today that Bridgestone Sport Co., Ltd. (BSP), Bridgestone's subsidiary in Japan, will sell all of its stock of Bridgestone Tecnifibre Co., Ltd. (BSTF) to YONEX CO., LTD. BSP has already withdrawn from tennis goods business as of December 31, 2020.
Bridgestone is restructuring the portfolio of its diversified products business to sharply focus on areas where it can leverage its core competencies. This is part of the overall reinforcement of portfolio management in the Mid Term Business Plan (2021-2023), announced on February 16, 2021. The Mid Term Business Plan aims to rebuild earning power through expense and cost structure reformation and enforcing premium business strategy to allow the company to enhance strategic growth investment. By executing these strategies, Bridgestone is transforming to a "strong" Bridgestone capable of adapting to the changing business environment.
The overview of BSTF and its restructuring are as follows.
| Country and Area | Scale of Business | Products | Outline of Business Restructuring |
No of Manufacturing Footprints |
| Chonburi, Thailand | Sales amount： Approx. 545 million THB (Approx. 1,864 million JPY*1, 2020 actual) Employees: 608 (As of October 31, 2021) |
Tennis Ball | Stock Sales All shares of stock Scheduled to be sold to YONEX CO., LTD. before December 31, 2021*2 |
1 |
*1 Translated at a rate of THB 1 to JPY 3.42
*2 BSP holds Approx. 86.8% shares of BSTF.
BSTF is also working closely with its employees, local communities, customers and suppliers to minimize the impact of this transaction as much as possible.
The Bridgestone Group will reinforce its portfolio management in line with the changing business environment, to evolve to a sustainable solutions company which aims to continuously provide social value and customer value.
Bridgestone expects the impact on its consolidated financial results for 2021 to be minor.
For more information on the Bridgestone Group's Mid Term Business Plan (2021-2023), click here.
＜For reference: Progress of business portfolio / manufacturing footprints restructuring＞
*Business portfolio restructuring
| Date of Announcement | Business | News Release |
| January 7, 2021 | Commercial Roofing | LafargeHolcim to acquire Firestone Building Products from Bridgestone Americas |
| June 15, 2021 | Synthetic Rubber in China | Bridgestone Announces its Progress of Rebuilding Earning Power Based on Mid Term Business Plan (2021-2023) Restructuring Synthetic Rubber Business in China |
| November 1, 2021 | Conveyor Belt | Bridgestone Announces its Progress of Restructuring Diversified Products Business Based on Mid Term Business Plan (2021-2023) Withdrawing from Conveyor Belt Business |
*Manufacturing footprints restructuring
