Samsung's screen technology business is about to get even bigger.
Samsung is now buying up Sony's share of the two companies' joint venture, S-LCD, for $940 million, or approximately 1.08 trillion South Korean won. The acquisition will shift Sony's 50 percent of the company--minus one share--into Samsung's possession, making it the S-LCD Corporation a wholly-owned Samsung subsidiary.
The shift is intended to ease some of Sony's continuing struggle with its TV business, which has posted a loss over eight straight years.
In addition to Samsung assuming control of the company, which manufactures LCD panels for consumer electronics like televisions and mobile phones, Sony will continue to source some of its LCD panels from S-LCD.
Sony and Samsung expect to complete the hand-over by the end of January 2012. Sony, in the meantime, also announced it will take a one-time charge of 66 billion yen ($845.4 million) due to a "reevaluation" of its S-LCD shares, partly due to the exchange rate. Over time, however, the company expects to see roughly 50 billion yen in annual savings as a result of shedding S-LCD's manufacturing arm..
