HP Inc. (HPQ) is acquiring Samsung Electronics Co.'s printer business for $1.05 billion, the two companies confirmed this morning. Armed with Samsung's printer business, the PC maker intends to disrupt the traditional copier industry with multi-function printers (MFPs) and more managed print services (MPS).
The deal surfaces as both HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise host their respective Global Partner Conferences in Boston this week. The former focuses on printers, PCs and mobile devices and the latter promotes data center (servers, storage, network) technologies.
While Hewlett Packard Enterprise is expected to promote SMB servers tied to cloud and managed services at its conference, the PC company counterpart has been pushing harder into device as a service while trimming channel inventories.
Upon announcing today's deal, HP specifically pointed to Samsung's A3 MFPs, stating that the mobile-first and cloud-first user experience will integrate with the PC maker's PageWide technologies. Moreover, the company is well-positioned to define the 3D printer market while disrupting the copier market, CEO Dion Weisler predicted.
Weisler and his executive team have been scouring the market for growth opportunities amid HP's own struggle to boost revenues and profits in traditional hardware markets. The Samsung deal could boost HP's profit. However, critics may wonder if the company is betting too heavily on hardware when software and cloud services increasingly dominate the world of IT.
HP Buys Samsung Printer Business: More Details
Among the other key anecdotes to note:
- Samsung's printer business includes roughly 6,500 printing patents, as well as 1,300 researchers and engineers.
- HP will also continue working with Canon, particularly in the managed print services (MPS) market.
- The deal is expected to close within 12 months, pending regulatory approval.
- The acquisition is expected to be accretive in the first full year following closing, meaning that the acquisition will boost net income within its first year.
- Samsung will purchase $100 million to $300 million worth of HP stock within a year of the deal's completion.
The business combination could also help the PC maker to compete more effectively in Asia, media reports suggest.
Stay tuned for complete coverage of the HP and HPE Global Partner Conferences this week on ChannelE2E.
