Panasonic now in control of Sanyo, promises to be nice

It sure took awhile, but Panasonic now has controlling interest of Japan's beleaguered Sanyo Corporation. After shareholders approved the deal last year, the partnership became mired in anti-trust concerns across the globe. That was then -- today the company founded by Konosuke Matsushita is the proud owner of 50.19% of Sanyo for the bargain price of ¥404 billion ($4.6 billion). That gives Panny access to Sanyo's battery (some of which was sold off to appease regulators) and solar technology as well as its unsurpassed ability for making dull and matronly consumer electronics. Everybody wins!

[Oflife Posted Dec 10th 2009 5:20AM]

To be fair, Sanyo's Xacti cameras break away from the dull. This is a good mariage, as Panasonic have produced some great products of late, but battery technology is the let down. For example, their otherwise excellent TZ7 (ZS3 in the US) digicam does much well, but the battery doesn't last very long - and buying a second battery is expensive. Hopefully the 'TZ8/ZS4' will use some Sanyo battery technology - and why not a rollup solar panel too for some on the go charging niceness?

[Abimbola Akanwo Posted Dec 10th 2009 6:08AM]

Guess no one pays $4.6 billion for a company unless they know they can enhance the product lines and increase revenue...

[Schmitty338 Posted Dec 10th 2009 7:53AM]

@Abimbola Akanwo

know = hope

[willowtwf Posted Dec 10th 2009 9:52AM]

as long as they don't mess with the Eneloops...

[Doax Posted Dec 10th 2009 10:08AM]

Did Panasonic also get controlling shares in Sanyos mobile phone division? Or is that locked in with Kyocera? Cus I thought they merged those two companies into Kyocera Wireless or something. I was just hoping Sanyo would make some competitve phones again. I'd love to see something like an Incognito with Android on it, or a slab phone like the Samsung Instinct HD running Android out of Sanyo. Reason I'm rooting for Sanyos Cellular division was I'd never had a phone with as good of call quality or build quality as my SCP-8400 or my SCP-4900. Old phones in todays marketplace of smartphones, but I still look back fondly on those two phones.

[Guspaz Posted Dec 10th 2009 10:52AM]

Don't mess with my supply of Eneloops and we'll be cool, Panasonic.

On that note, isn't it interesting how Eneloop has become such a recognized and trusted brand when it comes to NiMH batteries? I mean, sure, Duracell or Energizer might have more brand recognition overall, but "Duracell Pre-charged Rechargables" don't have the same kind of recognition as "Eneloop".

[operation northwoods Posted Dec 10th 2009 11:48PM]

Does that means panasonic will adapt its optical image stabilizer on the gorgeous Sanyo Xact HD2000?