(HPQ) agreed to buy Samsung’s printer business for $1.05 billion, the tech company announced big plans to enter the copier market.
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The sale was reportedly approved by the company’s board of directors on September 12th, as part of an effort to concentrate on its core business areas. Hours after announcing the acquisition of Samsung’s printer business, HP announced a new A3 multi-function printing lineup that includes 16 new multifunction printers.
On the same day that computer and printer giant HP Inc.
Samsung’s printer business also brings a compelling intellectual property portfolio of more than 6,500 printing patents and a world-class workforce that includes almost 1,300 researchers and engineers with advanced expertise in laser printer technology, imaging electronics, and printer supplies and accessories to support continued innovation in print market solutions. HP said one of the benefits of those printers is that many of Samsung’s offerings come with as few as seven replaceable parts, making the devices easier and less expensive to service. Samsung will then invest between 100 and 300 million dollars (90 to 270 million euro) in shares.
The company plunged more than 10 percent on Friday and Monday after it urged global consumers to stop using its flagship Galaxy Note 7 owing to a spate of exploding batteries.
“The printing business was never a plus factor to Samsung’s market value due to its slumping sales and low profit”, said Lee Seung-Woo, an analyst at IBK Investment Securities. The case is similar to one against Apple Inc (AAPL.O), Google (GOOGL.O) and other tech companies which settled previous year for $415 million.
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Hewlett-Packard split into two businesses a year ago: HP Inc, which focuses on printers and computers; and Hewlett Packard Enterprise, which sold its software business to focus on data storage. For the three months to July 31, it reported printing revenue of $4.4 billion, down 14 percent, out of total revenue of $11.9 billion. This “eliminated competition” between the two South Korean companies and would have held down their wages, Bloomberg reports.
