Sandisk, Samsung and Toshiba: continued
The story with an attempt by Samsung to buy Sandisk got an unexpected continuation .
As I wrote earlier, Toshiba has no money to make its counter-offer on the purchase, which they officially announced. But, in order not to surrender everything to the enemy, the Japanese acted more cunningly: they redeem their shares in joint factories with Sandisk.
This is apparently done in order to protect their production secrets and maintain influence on production, if the Koreans still acquire Sandisk.
Having received money from the Japanese, Sandisk will be able to restore its precarious position for a short time (the company has a lot of debts, and now it is difficult to put it mildly). At the same time, the total price of the company will fall in this case, and it will become even more attractive for Koreans (I remind you that they are waging war not so much for production facilities as for a thick patent portfolio: now Koreans pay Sandisk from 300 to 500 million patent fees in year).
So Samsung, taking a wait and see attitude after its offer, seems to be the winner. However, not everything is so simple: An economic crisis is brewing in South Korea, which may turn out to be worse than 1997, therefore, it is very possible that in 2009 Samsung will think more about surviving in the financial storm, and not about acquiring assets. Wait and see.
As I wrote earlier, Toshiba has no money to make its counter-offer on the purchase, which they officially announced. But, in order not to surrender everything to the enemy, the Japanese acted more cunningly: they redeem their shares in joint factories with Sandisk.
This is apparently done in order to protect their production secrets and maintain influence on production, if the Koreans still acquire Sandisk.
Having received money from the Japanese, Sandisk will be able to restore its precarious position for a short time (the company has a lot of debts, and now it is difficult to put it mildly). At the same time, the total price of the company will fall in this case, and it will become even more attractive for Koreans (I remind you that they are waging war not so much for production facilities as for a thick patent portfolio: now Koreans pay Sandisk from 300 to 500 million patent fees in year).
So Samsung, taking a wait and see attitude after its offer, seems to be the winner. However, not everything is so simple: An economic crisis is brewing in South Korea, which may turn out to be worse than 1997, therefore, it is very possible that in 2009 Samsung will think more about surviving in the financial storm, and not about acquiring assets. Wait and see.