Going it alone
In a long anticipated move, Japanese industrial giant Fujitsu is to buy out its equal partner Siemens from their jointly owned PC venture Fujitsu Siemens Computers (FSC).
FSC was created in 1999 and quickly became a major player in the European PC market. Latterly its market share has dwindled, however, as the big three of HP, Acer and Dell have increasingly dominated sales and consumer tastes have moved more towards netbooks.
In separate statements, Fujitsu said this move fits in perfectly with their global growth strategy, while Siemens said it wanted to concentrate on the energy, industrial and healthcare sectors. The incumbent CEO doesn't seem to like the deal and has resigned "for personal reasons."
Fujitsu will pay Siemens 450 million Euros for its half. The deal is expected to be completed by April 2009 after the bureaucrats have got through scrutinising it. Until then, FSC wants us to believe it will be business as usual.
