SAMDisk?
Paid Content is running a rumor lifted from a Korean website that says that talks are heating up for electronics heavyweight Samsung to acquire memory card kings SanDisk lock, stock and SD card readers. Samsung has hired bankers J. P. Morgan to handle the negotiations, and when told of the rumor, a Samsung flak said the following:
We are looking at various opportunities regarding SanDisk but nothing has been decided yet.
Considering that anything short of a flat out denial counts as confirmation in a financial story this big, sounds like we are golden.
Since Samsung is a major maker and user of NAND and DRAM flash memory and therefore pays through the nose to SanDisk in licensing fees (read $353.8 million a year) it certainly makes sense for Samsung’s bottom line. As for SanDisk, they have been looking to produce a solid line of consumer goods beyond their actual memory cards for awhile, and though the Sansa MP3 players comes close, they are well back in the MP3 pack, scrabbling over the 10 percent or so market share left over by Apple.
This could be a good match for both companies, and will certainly be very very lucrative…but would it be good for the mobile electronics industry? Time (and no doubt Korean regulators who are watching Samsung’s acquisitions like a hawk) will tell.
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