Update to the original story below. In a statement LG has now strongly denied the rumors, stating that is has no intentions of shutting down its television business or selling to Hisense.
One of the industry's giants may be on the verge of throwing in the towel. This is according to new reports claiming that LG is currently discussing internally a potential sale of its TV business to the Chinese company Hisense. If true, this would mark the end of nearly 60 years of TV manufacturing for LG.
The information comes from the Korean outlet EBN, which claims that representatives from LG recently travelled to Beijing to meet with Hisense to discuss the future. If true, this would mark yet another monumental shift for the market. Not least for LG itself, which has previously scaled back several other parts of its consumer business, including mobile development.
The TV market has shifted dramatically in just a few years, and Chinese brands have come to dominate, including Hisense as well as TCL, both of which have grown rapidly globally. This is largely due to very aggressive pricing and surprisingly good products. This has put significant pressure on previously established players such as LG, Philips, Sony, and Samsung.
Neither Hisense nor LG has commented on the matter so far.