Panasonic is liquidating a unit making LCD panels to focus more on electric car batteries ©Getty Images

Japan's Panasonic is liquidating a unit making liquid crystal display (LCD) panels to focus more on electric car batteries, in a move that may raise questions about the electronics group's future sports sponsorship strategy, including as a member of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) The Olympic Partner (TOP) worldwide marketing programme.

Panasonic was a member of the first TOP programme in 1988 and was the first TOP partner to renew through to 2024 when its latest eight-year extension, in the audio-visual equipment category, was announced in Sochi in February 2014.

But the company has yet to sign a further extension carrying it beyond next year's Paris Olympics.

According to Nikkei Asia, Panasonic Liquid Crystal Display was based in Himeji, near Osaka, and primarily made LCDs for automotive and industrial applications.

It said the company planned to turn the factory into a production base for electric vehicle batteries.

Commenting on the move, the Financial Times said, "Better late than never".

The newspaper explained: "Fierce competition drove it out of TV screen manufacturing…

"The first signs Panasonic had been defeated came in 2011…

Panasonic was a member of the first TOP programme in 1988 and was the first TOP partner to renew through to 2024 ©Getty Images
Panasonic was a member of the first TOP programme in 1988 and was the first TOP partner to renew through to 2024 ©Getty Images

"Flatscreen LCD TVs were once hot, pricey products.

"They turned into mainstream commodities much faster than expected."

The 2014 TOP announcement noted that Panasonic provided the Olympic Games with "a wide variety of products, including TVs, audio-visual equipment for broadcast and professional use, AV storage media, car navigation and related on-board entertainment systems equipment, and video surveillance equipment".

It had also established a "Tokyo Olympic Enterprise Division" for the development of new technologies and services.

TOP has generated strong revenue growth for the IOC in recent times over a period when media rights fees have been tending to plateau.

IOC President Thomas Bach indicated over two years ago that TOP was set to raise around $3 billion (£2.36 billion/€2.7 billion) in the 2021 to 2024 quadrennium, culminating with Paris.

The sponsorship programme was certainly a bright spot in the IOC’s recently-published 2022 accounts.

These showed that TOP had yielded 28.5 per cent more income than in 2018 - a total of $706.9 million (£556 million/€646 million).

This is not all cash, however; a significant proportion of the overall sum takes the form of goods and services, such as those supplied by Panasonic.