Deals
Western Digital Earnings Show Value and Risk of SanDisk Purchase
- U.S. company is partner with Toshiba unit that’s up for sale
- Toshiba’s desperation is biggest concern for Western Digital
SanDisk Corp. compact-flash memory cards.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Western Digital Corp.’s earnings showed the value of its SanDisk acquisition and how much it has to lose if a partnership with Toshiba Corp. is disrupted by the desperation sale of the Japanese company’s chip unit.
The San Jose, California-based company has posted results that topped estimates every quarter since completing the $15.8 billion purchase of the memory chipmaker last May and its stock has jumped 31 percent this year. Contrast that with the single-day 17 percent drop in shares of rival Seagate Technology Inc. after it reported earnings that still mostly depend on older, less desirable spinning magnetic-disk-based hard drives.