Vaio, Toshiba, Fujitsu to unite into new PC giant

PanARMENIAN.Net - Vaio Corp., the personal computer maker spun off from Sony Corp. in 2014, is closing in on a three-way merger with rivals to create a producer that can dominate Japan and weather a shrinking global PC market, Bloomberg reports.

Vaio expects to strike an agreement to combine with Toshiba Corp.’s and Fujitsu Ltd.’s PC divisions by the end of March, said Hidemi Moue, chief executive officer of Japan Industrial Partners Inc., the buyout fund that now controls the former arm of Sony. Vaio expects to own the biggest stake in the merged company, which can help the trio save on research and development and scale production, he said.

The proposed merger mirrors the consolidation of Japanese display makers and semiconductor firms, after decades of stagnation and a loss of competitiveness relegated former household names to the industry’s sidelines. The prevalence of smartphones and tablets in particular have squeezed PC makers, with 2015 global shipments at their lowest since the financial crisis.

“The PC market is shrinking, which means there are merits in working together to make the most of research, production volumes and marketing channels,” said Moue, whose fund specializes in corporate turnarounds. “We can do it with minimal cannibalization.”