Samsung Sells Printer Business To HP For $1 Billion

Samsung has sold its worldwide printer business to HP Inc for around $1.05 billion (£790 million), marking a new stage of consolidation in the shrinking printer business and giving HP a stronger position as it launches a range of photocopiers.

HP Inc, the hardware-focused business formed out of the split of HP, is to take on 6,000 Samsung staff, its production facilities in China and 50 sales offices worldwide. Samsung said it expects to spin off the printing business by 1 November and for the deal to close within 12 months.

Printing technology

The move is part of an effort by Samsung to focus on core areas such as smartphones, televisions and memory chips. Samsung said it would continue sourcing printers from HP and selling them in Korea under the Samsung brand.

Of the 6,000 staff, about half are in service and manufacturing, with 2,000 in research and development and 1,000 sales and support.

The deal gives HP Inc access to Samsung’s laser printing technology and around 6,500 printing patents, which it said it expects to aid in the development of a new line of photocopying machines launched on Monday.

Market decline

The printer market has been shrinking in recent years amidst a general shift toward digital documents, spurred in part by the wide spread of mobile devices.

HP Inc leads the market, followed by Canon, Epson, Brother and Samsung. HP Inc said the purchase was made easier by its split from enterprise-focused HPE.

HPE said last week it had sold its software business to UK company Micro Focus for about $8.8bn as it looks to narrow its focus on data centre hardware.

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