Western Digital to buy SanDisk in $19 billion takeover connected to flash memory
Hard drive maker Western Digital on Wednesday announced a $19 billion deal to acquire SanDisk, reflecting a shift in the storage industry away from magnetic hard disks towards solid-state drives and other forms of flash memory.
WD is offering $86.50 per share in terms of cash and stock, Reuters reported. During Wednesday trading SanDisk stock surged as high as $78.48 on the news. The exact value of the transaction, though, will depend on the closing on an investment from China's Unisplendour Corporation, part of the state-supported Tsinghua Holdings.
Because of that link, the deal could face scrutiny from the U.S. and Chinese governments, both of which are increasingly concerned about hacking and espionage. The arrangement does however have the support of Toshiba, which has an intellectual property-sharing joint venture with SanDisk. The latter, in turn, uses Toshiba foundries to produce chips.
WD shares are down in Wednesday trading, and the company has suspended its share buyback program.
While conventional hard disks still offer a better price-to-gigabyte ratio, the speed and reliability of SSDs has made them increasingly popular in desktop, laptop, and server PCs. All of Apple's MacBooks are SSD-based, for instance, and even the iMac has a number of flash configurations.
WD is offering $86.50 per share in terms of cash and stock, Reuters reported. During Wednesday trading SanDisk stock surged as high as $78.48 on the news. The exact value of the transaction, though, will depend on the closing on an investment from China's Unisplendour Corporation, part of the state-supported Tsinghua Holdings.
Because of that link, the deal could face scrutiny from the U.S. and Chinese governments, both of which are increasingly concerned about hacking and espionage. The arrangement does however have the support of Toshiba, which has an intellectual property-sharing joint venture with SanDisk. The latter, in turn, uses Toshiba foundries to produce chips.
WD shares are down in Wednesday trading, and the company has suspended its share buyback program.
While conventional hard disks still offer a better price-to-gigabyte ratio, the speed and reliability of SSDs has made them increasingly popular in desktop, laptop, and server PCs. All of Apple's MacBooks are SSD-based, for instance, and even the iMac has a number of flash configurations.
Comments
I know that they produce other things. But still
All of Apple's MacBooks are SSD-based, for instance, and even the iMac has a number of flash configurations.
Too bad the new iMac's still come with a 5400 rpm drive standard.
Somewhat understandable on a $499 budget computer (Mini), but not on a $1100+ desktop.
Lemon Bon Bon.
Wow. So the collection of SD cards sized 1x1,5 cm costs 19 billion.
I know that they produce other things. But still
market capitalization is about the same for the two companies - WD $17.3 billion SanDisk $15.3 billion
SanDisk's patent portfolio in terms of solid state storage is probably worth a pretty penny to WD as well.
WD earnings are more than 2x SanDisk ($14 billion to $6 billion). However, SanDisk is trending towards increased earnings, WD towards decreased.
Too bad the new iMac's still come with a 5400 rpm drive standard.
My iMac came with a 5400 drive also! The iMac that I bought back in 1999! No Joke!
Did you iMac come with a 5k screen?
No, but it came with the hockey puck mouse.
It's been a while since I last booted it up, but it still works fine, and if I remember correctly, the screen was 1024 x 768.
market capitalization is about the same for the two companies - WD $17.3 billion SanDisk $15.3 billion
SanDisk's patent portfolio in terms of solid state storage is probably worth a pretty penny to WD as well.
WD earnings are more than 2x SanDisk ($14 billion to $6 billion). However, SanDisk is trending towards increased earnings, WD towards decreased.
Thanks for the numbers. Interesting. Especially about the trends in earnings.
So you are just going to ignore the 5k screen?
Plus HDD speeds don't mean jack if you buy the fusion drive for a mere $100 more.
Solid state hybrid drives make RPM largely irrelevant
http://www.seagate.com/tech-insights/choosing-high-performance-storage-is-not-about-rpm-anymore-master-ti/
Shhh.... trying to inject logic and common-sense into this thread is only going to lead to disappointment.
It's funny reading for sure. They focus on one tiny part and are completely blind to the bigger picture.
I agree with you totally. A 5400rpm fusion drive and a 4K monitor is a steal at that price. But hey... some people on this thread are too ignorant to realize that.
Really? The 4K iMac is $1099? Because I'm pretty sure it's $1499. And I'm pretty sure Apple could afford some flash; especially the new crippled $100 1TB FusionDrive option. Formerly that meant you got 128GB of flash; now you get 24GB, which barely holds OS X and a few programs.
The $1099 and $1299 iMacs are standard displays, but don't let facts get in the way, right?
doesnt fucking matter. my parents have no idea what RPMs are, they just want a nice and reliable computer to do some jobs for them.
are you going to post this on every thread now?
hey, thanks for signing your message -- i wasnt certain it was you, despite the giant label containing your username immediately adjacent to your post.
did your 1999 mac also come with a keyboard with springs in it? yeah? point?
another company that WD will distory, they have a very poor track record on acquiring companies, all the other SSD and Flash companies they bought have gone by the waste side. When the Bought Hitachi they were not allow to intregate them becuase the Chinesse objective, only last week did China finally give them the okay to integrate them but it is too late Hitachi is not what it was 4 yrs ago.
For those who might not know Seagate spun out San Disk many years ago.
For those who might not know Seagate spun out San Disk many years ago.
Seagate did own shares of SanDisk at one point, but SanDisk was founded by a couple of Berkeley grads who developed EEPROM in the late '80s and helped build the base of the flash memory industry.
My two favourite brands merge! Wohoo
SanDisk has to be one of most unimpressive companies out there.
I recently plonked down $99 for a 128GB "wireless flash drive" that its ads promised would work with the iPhone and iPad to wirelessly transfer media. It didn't (yeah, yeah, I went through downloading their app, talking to their tech support etc.).
$19B ain't what it used to be.
Too bad the new iMac's still come with a 5400 rpm drive standard.
doesnt fucking matter. my parents have no idea what RPMs are, they just want a nice and reliable computer to do some jobs for them.
are you going to post this on every thread now?
Fair enough if your parents don't know what RPM's are. I don't know your parents.
Not sure if you meant to quote me, but I have never mentioned the 5400 rpm drive in the new iMac in any other thread.
If reliability is important enough to your parents for you to drop F-bombs over, then they would be best served to spend the extra $200 and get the 256 gig flash storage option in my opinion.