Sharp and Pioneer have agreed today to dissolve their capital alliance, though the companies will keep their business alliance agreement related to the developments in the optical disk business and other fields. On September 20, 2007, Sharp and Pioneer entered into a business and capital alliance agreement to jointly proceed with the development in the optical disk business and other fields.

The Japanese companies say that they decided to dissolve the capital alliance since they have achieved their original goals and targets.

Pioneer holds 10,000,000 shares of Sharp (shareholding ratio: 0.59%), and Sharp holds 30,000,000 shares of Pioneer (shareholding ratio: 8.05%). On June 29, 2009, Pioneer and Sharp established a joint venture, Pioneer Digital Design and Manufacturing Corporation, pursuant to a joint-venture contract signed on June 25, 2009.