Who knew printers were still a billion dollar business? HP and Samsung, that’s who
Apparently, we haven't gone fully down the digital rabbit hole yet and still need to print things out on dead trees.
It's a business worth at least $1.05bn (£792m), in fact, as HP snapped up Samsung's printer business for just that amount in a major deal on Monday morning.
Samsung will spin off the business as part of its efforts to slim down its sprawling array of electronics at the start of November, in which HP will take a 100 per cent stake.
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Subject to regulatory approval, the deal will close within the next 12 months.
HP, the computer and printer part of the Hewlett-Packard spin-off last year, will pick up 6,000 of Samsung's employees working on printer tech across 50 sales offices globally. It also includes thousands of patents and Samsung will invest as much as $300m in HP once the deal closes.
Samsung said printers made two trillion won (£675m) in sales last year while HP pegged the industry as being worth $55bn – and believes the deal "positions HP to disrupt and reinvent" it.
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"When we became a separate company just 10 months ago, it enabled us to become nimble and focus on accelerating growth and reinventing industries," said president and chief executive of HP Dion Weisler.
"We are doing this with 3D printing and the disruption of the $12 trillion traditional manufacturing industry, and now we are going after the $55bn copier space. The acquisition of Samsung's printer business allows us to deliver print innovation and create entirely new business opportunities with far better efficiency, security, and economics for customers."