Western Digital has completed the acquisition of Hitachi’s hard drive division, in the process setting up two subsidiaries in accordance with the conditions laid out by antitrust regulators.
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies is now wholly owned by Western Digital, who paid $3.9 billion and handed over 25 million shares to Hitachi to close the deal. The two companies will continue to operate as independent entities for at least two years. The split forms part of the terms set by China’s Ministry of Commerce, who approved the merger.
Western Digital has already been compelled to sell off hard drive manufacturing assets to Toshiba by the US Federal Trade Commission. Failure to do so would have left only Seagate and Western Digital in the global desktop hard drive arena.
