HP completes $1.05 billion Samsung printer business purchase
HP Inc has on Wednesday announced completion of its acquisition of Samsung Electronics' printer business for $1.05 billion.
HP takes a 100 percent stake in the unit and its overseas assets as part of the deal, originally announced in September last year. It also gains 6,500 of Samsung's printing patents and a workforce of nearly 1,300 researchers and engineers with expertise in laser technology, imaging electronics, and supplies and accessories, the company said.
"Together, we will build on more than 30 years of print leadership to accelerate our strategy, disrupt new market opportunities, and provide our customers and partners with unique and highly innovative solutions," said Dion Weisler, president and CEO of HP.
Samsung's printer business employs 6,000 people and includes production facilities in China and 50 sales offices globally, as of last year.
The Korean tech giant will also be making a $100 million to $300 million equity investment through open market purchases as part of the deal.
HP said it aims to replace outdated copiers in the enterprise with multifunction printers (MFPs) that now includes Samsung's portfolio of A3 MFPs.
Last year, HP unveiled a line of A3 MPFs with enhanced security and advanced monitoring based on cloud and big data analytics. HP vice president Aurelio Maruggi told ZDNet that the company is effectively "trying to do for the copier space what Tesla has done" for cars.
Nearly two years ago, HP split its business into two entities, with HP Inc focused on PCs and printers and the other, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, concerned with enterprise technology.
HP posted total net revenue of $13.1 billion for the third quarter of this year, beating market expectations. Printing net revenue for the quarter was $4.7 billion, up 6 percent year-over-year.
Q2 2017 was the first time in seven years that revenue from both PC and printer sales increased over the same quarter for the company. Last year, HP reported that printer revenues had fallen 8 percent year-on-year for Q4 2016, affecting overall performance for the quarter.
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