Western Digital, which sells digital storage solutions among other products, announced it will buy SanDisk for $19 billion. The boards of directors of both companies have voted to approve the deal.
In materials provided to investors, Western Digital said the acquisition is part of a “transformation … into a storage solutions company with global scale, extensive product and technology assets, and deep expertise in nonvolatile memory. Western Digital will double its addressable market and expand its participation in higher-growth segments.”
The new company will offer a combined product line including hard disk drives, solid-state drives, cloud computing and data center solutions, and flash storage hardware.
Western Digital CEO Steve Milligan said the acquisition “aligns with our long-term strategy to be an innovative leader in the storage industry by providing compelling, high-quality products with leading technology. The combined company will be ideally positioned to capture the growth opportunities created by the rapidly evolving storage industry. I’m excited to welcome the SanDisk team as we look to create additional value for all of our stakeholders, including our customers, shareholders and employees.”
SanDisk President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said Western Digital is “the ideal strategic partner for SanDisk. Importantly, this combination also creates an even stronger partner for our customers. Joining forces with Western Digital will enable the combined company to offer the broadest portfolio of industry-leading, innovative storage solutions to customers across a wide range of markets and applications.”
The deal is based on a cash and stock exchange. according to the companies, Western Digital will acquire outstanding SanDisk shares with common stock valued at $86.50 per share based on a five-day average price.
