October 23, 2015
Western Digital Acquires SanDisk for $19B and Digital Storage Domination
Western Digital continues its quest for data storage solutions domination with its recent acquisition of SanDisk for $19 billion in cash and stocks.
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“This transformational 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,” said Steve Milligan, chief executive officer, Western Digital.
“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.”
“Western Digital is globally recognized as a leading provider of storage solutions and has a 45-year legacy of developing and manufacturing cutting-edge solutions, making the company the ideal strategic partner for SanDisk,” said Sanjay Mehrotra, president and chief executive officer, 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.”
Both Western Digital and SanDisk have product portfolios with a vast offering of storage solutions, including hard disks, solid state drives, and online storage. In recent years, Western Digital has been focusing on delivering network attached storage (NAS) devices to the consumer and small-to-mid-sized business markets. These NAS devices combine local storage with cloud storage. One of these devices that has gained significant consumer storage market share is the Western Digital My Cloud.
From Western Digital’s press release, “Steve Milligan will continue to serve as chief executive officer of the combined company, and the company will remain headquartered in Irvine, California. Upon closing, Sanjay Mehrotra is expected to join the Western Digital Board of Directors.”