Philips pulls a Siemens, sells phone biz to Asian firm
Offloading unprofitable mobile phone businesses seems to be all the rage in Europe as of late, with Philips now announcing that they'll be transferring their operations to a firm going by "CEC" -- or China Electronics Corporation, if you're into longhand. Philips isn't exactly a household name for cellphones here in the States, but they take in about €400 million (about a half billion USD) annually across the globe, so the deal is no small one. Similar to Siemens' agreement with BenQ, CEC will be given a license to use the Philips name on its phones for the next five years, at which point they'll have to go it alone (if they make it that long). Assuming all the usual regulatory stuff pans out, the money is expected to change hands before the year's out.
[Via Geekzone]
