South Korean consumer electronics giant Samsung will be working hand in hand with Sony after the former purchased the latter’s shares of S-LCD, turning this joint venture into its wholly-owned subsidiary. This agreement will see Samsung pick up all of Sony’s shares of S-LCD Corporation (“S-LCD”), where around $935 million is paid to Sony by Samsung. A new strategic agreement is also drawn up so that the competitiveness of both companies will be increased, and Sony and Samsung are able to forge a new future thanks to cooperative engineering efforts that are focused on LCD panel technology.
What does Sony gain from this joint venture? They can cash out on their S-LCD shares, while securing a flexible and steady supply of LCD panels from Samsung, where it will be based on market prices, and they do shed the headache of operating a manufacturing facility, which can end up being rather costly in the end as well. As for Samsung, whole ownership of S-LCD would hopefully translate to increased flexibility, speed and efficiency in panel production and business operations. Don’t you just love win-win situation? [Press Release]