We reported earlier that Samsung was considering chopping off its harddrive section. The reason was the red numbers, low margins and dropping sales as the market for smartphones and tablets rose. Already the deal has been closed between Samsung and Seagate.
What we thought was fresh news had been going on for weeks since it is now clear that Seagate will acquire Samsung’s harddrive section for 1.375 miljader dollar. With this deal Samsung will own about 9.6% of Seagate and appoint one member of Seagate’s board.
Besides Samsung becoming an part-owner in Seagate the companies have strengthened their relations where Samsung will supply Seagate with NAND memory while Seagate’s harddrives will be used in Samsung’s computers. The companies will also gain access to each others patent portfolios when it comes to storage units like harddrives and SSDs. This gives Seagate a strong partner on the SSD market where it has kept to the business segment so far.
Source: Seagate
