It seems we're not the only ones indulging in a little bit of holiday shopping. Sony has announced that it is selling its share of the joint LCD-production venture it signed into with Samsung seven years ago.
In a deal worth $600 million, Samsung will acquire Sony's portion of the venture, which the two parties signed into in 2004. The deal will see Samsung pay 1.08 trillion Korean won, or $935 million, to Sony and S-LCD will become a wholly-owned Samsung subsidiary.
Additionally, the two companies have entered into a new agreement for the supply and purchase of LCD panels that Sony says will ensure a 'flexible and steady' supply of LCDs from Samsung without the costs of operating the manufacturing facility. In exchange, Samsung expects to benefit from more flexibility, speed and efficiency in both production and business operations.
Sony says that as a result of the transaction, it is now expecting a non-cash impairment loss of roughly 66 billion yen, or $847 million, for the next fiscal quarter (ending March 2012). However, the company also said in its statement that this one-time loss will be canceled out by the annual savings made from off-loading its half of S-LCD. The current estimate of the yearly savings is 50 billion yen, or $642 million.
