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Panasonic US forms new business units to focus on the digital display business
MUMBAI: Panasonic US which among other things works in trhe area of Plasma HDTVs has created two new unit companies that will be responsible exclusively for the increasingly strategic digital display business, including Plasma, LCD technologies. |
Hideaki Harada will lead Panasonic‘s new consumer enterprise as president of Panasonic Display Company and Andrew Nelkin will lead the new business-to-business professional enterprise as President of Panasonic Professional Display Company. They will report to Panasonic US chairman and CEO Yoshi Yamada. Harada says, “In creating the Panasonic Display Company, we are making a radical change in the way we get the job done and extending the transformation that Panasonic launched more than two years ago. “This new organisation will shorten distances between product development, our factories and our sales and marketing functions enabling Panasonic to react even more swiftly to meet channel partner and customer demands. |
“Our main objective is to continue to expand upon our leadership in Plasma TV market share while also growing our LCD and MMD business to build a leadership position across the entire flat panel industry”. Panasonic says that it has been the consumer Plasma market share leader for 108 of Nelkin sats, “Commercial flat panel displays are a very strategically important part of our business. Some of the leading sports arenas, hotels, restaurant chains and network television broadcasters feature Panasonic flat panel displays. We‘ve established this new company to put an even greater emphasis on the professional side of the flat panel business led by our 103″ Plasma HDTV, the world‘s largest.” Most recently, Panasonic announced deals for the installation of more than 5,000 Plasma HDTVs at the new Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas, 103″ Plasmas on the set of NBC‘s Football Night In America programme, |
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
