Sony is close to finalizing a deal that would remove Ericsson from Sony Ericsson and it would buy out its partner’s entire 50pc stake. According to a report in WSJ, Japanese manufacturer is aiming to integrate smartphones operations with its tablet, gaming and PC business, thus giving it better sync between the development of devices and also help in reducing costs.
According to WSJ sources, the talk between two companies have been going on for a while now and it was only recently that Sony started pushing hard to get the deal done, as Sony Ericsson’s market share has been going down the drain for last few years (look at the graph for get more idea, credit: Bloomberg News):
The report also highlights a recent quote from SE CEO Bert Nordberg that Sony Ericsson has “more in common” with Sony than Ericsson.
The main hitch in this deal is the price and the talks have broken down for the same in the past also. Apart from the 50pc stake in the venture, Ericsson also holds a big patent portfolio, whose value is hard to determine but considering the recent deals between Motorola and Google, Nortel patents buy-out, but the companies might finally have frame of reference to look for.
