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Sharp Buys Stake in Pioneer
September 21, 2007
Source: Sharp
Japanese electronics
makers Sharp Corp. and Pioneer Corp. announced a deal Thursday
to reduce development costs through joint projects and technology
sharing.
As part of the deal, Pioneer will issue 41.4 billion yen ($357
million) in stock to Sharp, giving the Osaka-based Sharp a
14.7 percent stake in Pioneer, making it the company's top
shareholder.
Pioneer will also buy a 0.9 percent stake
in Sharp for 19.75 billion yen ($171 million). Sharp President
Mikio Katayama told reporters at a news conference that there
are no plans for now for the two companies to merge.
"Trying to cover all the technologies
needed on our own at this time when competition is so severe
would call for massive amounts of time, personnel and funds,"
Katayama said. "That could lead to losing commercial
opportunities."
Under the agreement, Sharp and Pioneer plan
to work together on next generation DVD products that would
combine Sharp's expertise in technologies including blue-violet
laser diodes with Pioneer's background in optical disk technology.
The two companies will also work on network-related
products in the home electronics field, as well as projects
that could combine Sharp's display know-how with Pioneer's
car navigation technology. They also plan to expand both companies'
display businesses and develop other audio-visual products.
Sharp, known for its Aquos brand of liquid
crystal display TVs, was the world's third-biggest LCD television
maker in terms of revenue in 2006. It had an 11.5 percent
market share last year, a survey by market researcher DisplaySearch
showed, behind Sony Corp. with 16 percent and South Korea's
Samsung Electronics Co. at 15 percent.
Pioneer led the way in developing plasma
screen televisions for home use, bringing its first product
to market in 1997, according to spokesman Kesanobu Yamanishi.
Pioneer expects to sell 720,000 plasma televisions globally
in the July-September quarter, an 11-percent rise from the
same period the previous year, he said.
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