November 22, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Electronics is in talks with Chinese PC giant Lenovo to sell off its struggling PC business division as part of its efforts to divest less profitable businesses, The Bell, a local news outlet, reported on Nov. 24.

The report said Samsung is carrying out the talks without a financial advisor, adding that the Korean tech giant has hired Paul Hastings as a legal advisor, while Lenovo is represented by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. 

The Bell predicted the deal price could be worth more than 1 trillion won (US$850 million) even though the breakdown revenue of the PC business, affiliated with Samsung’s flagship information technology and mobile business division, has been rarely revealed.

The talks have allegedly continued for months but with little progress so far, the report said.

The planned sell-off of the PC business is in line with Samsung’s recent sale of its printer business division to HP Inc. for US$1.05 billion that was announced in September. The division is expected to be merged with the world’s largest printer maker in the latter half of next year.

“Considering the close business relationship between PCs and printers, it seems quite obvious that Samsung, after its PC business sell-off, is withdrawing from the PC market,” a former Samsung executive was quoted as saying.

Lenovo, dual-headquartered in Beijing, China, and Morrisville, North Carolina, is the world’s largest PC manufacturer in terms of shipments.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)