As of March 4th 2011, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies was acquired by Western Digital for $3.5 billion in cash and 25 million WD common shares valued at $750 million. They will also have two of Hitachi board of directors added to Western Digital’s board of directors. WD plans to fund the transaction with a combination of existing cash and total debt of approximately $2.5 billion.

This is a buyout as the company headquarters and name will remain Western Digital. Hitachi assets will simply be absorbed into Western Digital including their staff.  This includes Steve Milligan, president and chief of Hitachi GST, who will join WD as President and will report to John Coyne, current CEO of Western Digital.

Mr. John Coyne did have a few words about this merger:

“The acquisition of Hitachi GST is a unique opportunity for WD to create further value for our customers, stockholders, employees, suppliers and the communities in which we operate. We believe this step will result in several key benefits: enhanced R&D capabilities, innovation and expansion of a rich product portfolio, comprehensive market coverage and scale that will enhance our cost structure and ability to compete in a dynamic marketplace. The skills and contributions of both workforces were key considerations in assessing this compelling opportunity. We will be relying on the proven integration capabilities of both companies to assure the ongoing satisfaction of our customers and to bring this combination to successful fruition.”

The competition of Hitachi GST will be missed, but I am a Samsung fan myself. I may take this opportunity to buy up some Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 drives for a RAID as I anticipate some nice stock liquidation sales.

Source: TechPowerUp