Samsung bids for SanDisk buy-out
Flash memory and the costs associated with integrating massive storage into higher-end mobile phones are apparently enough to drive one of the world’s largest mobile phone makers to put the moves on SanDisk. Rather than pay hundreds of millions of dollars a year in royalties to use SanDisk’s technology patents, Samsung has just made a public overture to take the flash-memory company under its wing.
Following on rumors that Samsung was preparing to purchase SanDisk, Samsung today made a bid to acquire SanDisk for the not-so-small sum of $5.8 billion. The offer translates in to a $26-per-share buy-out, which, given SanDisk’s current market performance, is generous indeed.
Unfortunately, SanDisk isn’t having any of it. SanDisk’s board has rejected Samsung’s buy-out offer on grounds that $6 billion isn’t a fair valuation for company shareholders and that Samsung is taking advantage of the rough economic times that SanDisk, not to mention the global economy as a whole, is currently going through. But, SanDisk didn’t outright kill any possibility of a Samsung-deal at a higher price-point, leading many analysts to believe that SanDisk is holding out for more money.
We’ll keep an eye on this one, folks…
[Via: BusinessWeek]