Panasonic to officially purchase controlling stake in Sanyo for $6.4B

It took a little longer than we'd heard due to some last-minute complications, but Panasonic's deal to buy almost all of Sanyo has finally been approved by Sanyo's major shareholders. Under the deal, Panny will buy out some 70 percent of Sanyo for ¥131 ($1.50) a share, making the total deal worth some ¥560B ($6.41B). That'd be lot of scratch even if the economy wasn't in the tank, but Panny thinks it'll be worth it to take over Sanyo's position in the solar and rechargeable battery markets, which it thinks are due to blow up. Er, not blow up like that -- in the fun-filled raining-cash way. You get the idea. Xactis for everyone!

[Johan S @ Dec 17th 2008 11:37PM]

Sorry, this is a bad deal. Sanyo doesn't have an innovation focus.

Waste of $6.5 billion.

[phanbouy fan fan @ Dec 17th 2008 11:49PM]

Totally. And all their displays are QVGA or EVGA too.

[tekdroid @ Dec 18th 2008 1:41AM]

No innovation focus? Panasonic obviously disagrees to the tune of $$$.

Plus there's more to Sanyo than branded consumer electronics. They have a strong focus on ecological technologies like Solar, Hybrid battery technologies, research and development into more sustainable technologies and processes. They are the largest and most innovative Ni-MH battery manufacturer, lots of Sanyo components go into electronics we all use daily too. They have particular strength in digital camera components and manufacture.

Every company has particular strengths and weaknesses, and that doesn't translate to a strong branded presence in CE devices, which is only one small piece of the technology pie (and IMO they do a good job here, too).

[loocas @ Dec 18th 2008 1:53AM]

Then they state that the "economy is rough", lay off some thousands of employees and increase prices on everything they make.

Money well spent!

[air12ick @ Dec 18th 2008 1:05PM]

You may not realize this, but Sanyo makes a lot of behind the scenes stuff. They own Kenmore, so now Panasonic can compete with Samsung and LG on the home appliance side. They own a lot of the patents towards solar and battery technology, which is the reason why this came up. Most people may see this as a bad tech move, but if you look at the Sanyo's buisness, its very diverse and there's a bunch of Kenmore product out there, most likely in your own house.

[Temple @ Dec 18th 2008 5:31AM]

Sanyo and Panasonic aren't just about electronics products that you see at the store.

Sanyo provides battery for hybrids and electric vehicles to Honda, Ford, Tesla and VW. Panasonic provides it to Toyota, GM, etc. Between the two of them, a Panasonic-Sanyo merger will dominate this new market.

The next-generation of Li-on batteries, that are suppose to be suitable for vehicles (from safety and performance) perspectives are suppose to be a HUGE market. This isn't $20-30 batteries we're talking about, but components that cost THOUSANDS of dollars, in hundreds of thousands of cars. And its a growing market. Toyota and Honda expect 10% of their sales to come from hybrids, and GM is introducing the Volt; VW, Nissan, Hyundai are all releasing hybrid models in the next few years and they will all need batteries. Not to mention the growing market for electric vehicles.

Sanyo has converted itself into a 'green' company over the last half-decade, and have moved-away from low-margin CE devices to thing like solar panels as well. So Panasonic has a lot to gain in that department.

[Jamar @ Dec 18th 2008 9:06AM]

...That's beecause you've never seen what they offer Japan. Totally blows any US-based stuff out of the water and I wonder why they don't even try selling any of it here.

[LongshotX @ Dec 17th 2008 11:49PM]

PDAnet rocks!

[ProjecT TimeZ @ Dec 17th 2008 11:51PM]

...And life goes on.

[MastrCake @ Dec 18th 2008 12:15AM]

I haven't bought a Sanyo product in years. To be truthful, I didn't know they were still around! still, it'll be interesting to see what this merger does...

[trappy @ Dec 18th 2008 12:26AM]

Sanyo's Xacti line is one of the best handheld camcorders in their price range. Take a look at the HD1010 or HD700 ... amazing cameras, great formfactor, incredible feature set. I own a Xacti HD2 and would donate my left foot to charity for a HD1010!

[Adderz @ Dec 18th 2008 12:28AM]

Either, here in Australia Sanyo are a budget brand, and to be honest, at least when it comes to phones and TV"S, Panasonic are pretty low on the quality scale.

I think the only area Panasonic are still held in high esteem is audio.

[rickardo @ Dec 18th 2008 7:37AM]

@Adderz

Are you mad? Maybe there's a hell of a lot of difference in the products they ship to Australia, but here in the UK, Panasonic regularly tops various "best buy" lists (i.e. which, stuff etc) for their LCD TVs and also for their home cordless phones and are known as one of the more reliable brands Heck, I even have a Panasonic breadmaker that was also a "best buy"!

[Jamar @ Dec 18th 2008 9:10AM]

@Adderz-
"Either, here in Australia Sanyo are a budget brand"
You're missing out. Check out what they offer Japan (cellphones- google W61SA)- that's why Panasonic's buying up Sanyo.
"and to be honest, at least when it comes to phones and TV"S, Panasonic are pretty low on the quality scale."
Again, you're missing out. Try a P-01A (it's a very impressive phone) and then try to tell anyone that Panasonic's "pretty low on the quality scale".

[FILA @ Dec 18th 2008 12:27AM]

Sanyo sucks, but on the other hand i really like panasonic although i dont own anything from them, yet...video cameras are really nice and i like there tvs, did you see they have a 480hz tv now. Dont kno how good it performs thou in real life but the thought of it, jeeze.

[eddie_nutritious @ Dec 18th 2008 4:50AM]

Not quite. The 480Hz Sub-Field Drive that Panasonic is advertising is just marketing speak to go head to head with LCDs that are 120Hz and 240Hz. It refers to the fact that each pixel flickers on and off 8 times per cycle (8 sub-fields x 60Hz cycle = 480). Pioneer's high end plasmas for comparison use 14 subfields, but in reality, this is just part of the way plasmas work and is really nothing new. The screen is still cycling at 60Hz.

[Russell @ Dec 18th 2008 12:29AM]

I think now Sanyo will do better.

[massive_98 @ Dec 18th 2008 12:39AM]

I agree with the reasoning about the solar industry. This is an incredibly smart move to increase competition with a fellow electronics company and solar giant, Sharp. It’s an industry you might want to consider a career in. Once it does explode you'll be very attractive in the eyes of employers if you have solar panel installation experience or even a degree in renewable energy engineering.

[Johan S @ Dec 18th 2008 1:40AM]

The problem is that Sanyo isn't innovating .. Panasonic is buying the leader of horse & buggies when cars are about to revolutionize the world.

[Orappa @ Dec 18th 2008 12:44AM]

Sanyo who? no serius are they still around? well good for panasonic they propperbly dident realize the global economic state, so they were just thinking about using a few Biilios for some scrap metal junk..

good for them

[Jamar @ Dec 18th 2008 9:14AM]

Yep, Sanyo's alive and kickin'- it's just that they don't like to export their nice stuff.
Like
http://www.au.kddi.com/seihin/ichiran/cdma1x_win/w63sa/index.html
and
http://www.au.kddi.com/seihin/ichiran/cdma1x_win/w61sa/index.html

[Poom @ Dec 18th 2008 1:39AM]

I havn't bought or even heard of any Sanyo product in ages... Not like I hear of Panasonic much too other than their cameras.

[Zune @ Dec 18th 2008 5:29AM]

Goodbye competition between Panasonic and Sanyo projectors :(

[mocax @ Dec 18th 2008 8:50AM]

Sanyo's hot in asia, it's where all the money is, who cares about america?

[Galley @ Dec 18th 2008 9:16AM]

$6.48? I would have given them at least $7.00!

[Xoyuji @ Dec 18th 2008 10:12AM]

I did know they were still in business, I have a 8 year old TV from them thats still kicking it

[george giampietro @ Dec 24th 2008 12:28PM]

sayno digtal projectors has got to be the best bank for the buck..
i have had my projector for 4 years and I am on my 3rd lamp...These projectors
are real work horses...I just hope they will keep making these projectors with
the quality and durability that has made these projectors jest great..

[mike @ Dec 28th 2008 1:53PM]

to the guy that thinks sanyo owns kenmore,
kenmore is a sears store brand sanyo has nothing to do with kenmore appliances, neither does panasonic with any major appliance other than small appliance. Whirlpool makes the majority of kenmore appliances (which they could use some help). If panasonic/sanyo made a major appliance, I would probably consider buying it. I think of panasonic as fairly high quality electronics. Sanyo is kind of cheap here but still a major player based on what I have seen overseas. Panasonic will probably help them.