“Japan’s Toshiba Corp said on Thursday it had signed an $18 billion deal to sell its chip unit to a consortium led by Bain Capital LP, overcoming a key – albeit not its last – hurdle as it scrambles for funds to stave off a potential delisting,” Makiko Yamazaki reports for Reuters. “But in an inauspicious sign, a Tokyo news conference on the deal was canceled, with Bain saying the consortium could not form a consensus on whether to brief media – underscoring fears that the 8-member group contained too many competing interests for it to work well.”
“The sale of the unit – the world’s second biggest producer of NAND chips – was agreed last week after a tortuous auction process but the signing was delayed because consortium member Apple Inc demanded new terms on chip supply, sources familiar with the matter have said,” Yamazaki reports. “‘This consortium has so many members that it is going to be hard to come to consensus and agree on who’s going to take the initiative,’ said Hideki Yasuda at Ace Research Institute, but he added that if the sale was successfully completed it would reduce a lot of risks for Toshiba… In addition to Apple, Bain’s consortium includes South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix, as well as Dell Inc., Seagate Technology Plc and Kingston Technology – all of which want access to NAND technology.”
“Although the news conference was canceled just minutes before it was due to begin, the head of Bain Capital in Japan, Yuji Sugimoto, said the disagreements over the briefing had no bearing on the contract,” Yamazaki reports. “The sale also faces legal challenges from Western Digital, Toshiba’s chip venture partner and rejected suitor, which is seeking an injunction to block any deal that does not have its consent.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Leave it to Apple to extract a better deal at the last minute!
We have a feeling that this saga has not ended, just moved into a new chapter.
SEE ALSO:
KKR said to be wooing Apple to switch sides in Toshiba bid – September 26, 2017
Bain Capital-Apple group to buy Toshiba chip business for $18 billion – September 21, 2017
Toshiba decides on Bain Capital-Apple Group in chip business sale – September 20, 2017
If Bain Capital bid for Toshiba succeeds, it could be Apple’s largest deal ever – September 14, 2017
Apple mounts a full-court press for Toshiba’s chip business, waging battle with Western Digital – September 8, 2017
Foxconn details plan to acquire Toshiba chips unit; Apple would own 20 percent – September 7, 2017
Bain Capital brings in Apple for last-minute $18 billion bid for Toshiba chip unit – August 30, 2017
Apple and Amazon to back Foxconn on Toshiba chip bid, Hon Hai Chairman Terry Gou says – June 5, 2017
Apple may bid for big stake in Toshiba – April 17, 2017
U.S. suitors get major advantage as Japan to vet bidders in Toshiba chip sale over national security risks – March 10, 2017
Great News, the less dependence on Samsung for Chips the better it is. I bet the Toshiba people are looking foreward to design great processors and chips for Apple
This is bad news for Apple Customers. Apple already has huge margins on their end products, if they are now the supplier of parts for those end products IE The NAND Chips they will want huge margins for both units, so a Flash chip that costs $100 to produce will now cost Apple $200 and then after their markup will cost us $400 (Just fake numbers to illustrate for you nit pickers).
I don’t see any sign that Apple’s A-series CPUs are being charged at higher prices than others. Obviously those chips are not available for sale on their own, but the iPhones containing them are sold at prices comparable with other premium cellphones powered by considerably slower CPUs.
Sold my iMac after 5 years of use for more than 60% of its cost.
Last week I sold my iPhone 7 for 70% of its original cost after one year of use.
So basically, you would have to buy a PC for about $1000 with the specs of my iMac (i7, 32GB RAM, 3GB graphics card), never need to upgrade it and use it for 5 years. Good luck with that.
Similarly , you would have to buy an android for $350 that competes with an iPhone 7. Good luck with one too
Everything else Apple that I have either is too good to replace or just won’t break.
Before this I used to buy HP PC’s and be ‘upgrading them’ continually just to make them work. Never ever managed to sell any of the PC junk. Ended up either throwing it away or giving it out for free. Most of the time no one wanted it, even for free.
My experience of Apple products is that they keep running without problems, but gradually become obsolete once they no longer can run the latest operating system, which in turn means that they can’t run current versions of the apps you rely on.
A simple example is my banking app. Every so often they update it and introduce new features and upgraded security, but when they do that, they also declare that older versions from a few years ago will no longer be useable. The user has to choose between ceasing to use that app and banking service, or changing their hardware to support the new minimum system requirements.
For IOS devices, I’d like Apple to create a legacy minimum OS which provides a certain degree of minimal functionality so that we can recycle our old iPhones as AV remote controls, HomeKit interfaces, music players, security cameras or walkie-talkies. They’re good quality and reliable, so it would be much better that they can be re-used in a practical way rather than being torn apart for scrap.
All of this due to a bad investment buying Westinghouse’s Nuclear Power unit and Fukushima. Let that be lesson to the people pushing “clean” Nuclear Power. As in clean out your bank account.
The future is here whether you like it or not.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/602051/fail-safe-nuclear-power/amp/