Atsutoshi Nishida

Born on 29 December 1943 in Mie Prefecture, Nishida earned a bachelor's degree from Waseda University and completed graduate work at the University of Tokyo.[1][2] He married an Iranian woman shortly after concluding his studies in 1970.[3]

Nishida was still based in Iran when he was first hired by Toshiba in 1975.[3][4] Nishida pushed Toshiba to invest in and develop laptop computers in the 1980s,[3][5] and by 1984 was named a general manager, responsible for personal computer sales at Toshiba Europe.[2] The next year, Nishida's efforts resulted in the release of the Toshiba T1100.[6] Nishida later returned to Japan and assumed increasing responsibility over Toshiba's laptop division.[2]

Nishida was named president of Toshiba America Information Systems in April 1992,[7] and left the post in 1995, only to return in 1997.[8] During the early 2000s, he continued to take on senior management roles.[9] Nishida became president of the company in 2005.[3] During his tenure, Toshiba acquired the Westinghouse Electric Corporation in 2006 for US$5.4 billion and ended the development of the HD DVD in 2008.[10][11] Nishida was succeeded by Norio Sasaki as president of Toshiba in 2009. Nishida became company chairman, a role he held until 2013.[4]

In 2015, an investigation was launched into profit inflation that took place under company presidents Nishida, Sasaki and Hisao Tanaka.[3][4] After the probe's findings were reported, Nishida left his position as adviser to the company.[12] Subsequently, Toshiba sued Nishida, Sasaki, and Tanaka for US$28.2 million.[13]

Nishida died of a heart attack at Toshiba General Hospital in Tokyo on 8 December 2017, aged 73.[14]