14 DAY TRIAL // Last week, SanDisk turned down Samsung's offer of acquisition. It seems that the price per share offered now is lower than the one at the beginning of the discussions, and the company wants more money. As recent news shows, other companies seem to be interested in getting their hands on the flash memory company. Intel and Seagate are said to have joined the possible bidding war to acquire SanDisk.
When talking about Samsung's offer, industry sources share different opinions. Some believe that the offer was lower than the real value stock price, and it was influenced by a drop on the U.S. market. On the other hand, there are those who believe that SanDisk is actually trying to overestimate its value.
Rumors of Intel and Seagate being interested in putting their hands on SanDisk are getting stronger. The fact is that both companies have kept silence over a possible deal, yet their interest in the acquisition would make a lot of sense.
Seagate already announced it wants to enter the NAND market area, yet analysts say that it lacks the fab access and patents SanDisk has. This is not the only reason Seagate would be interested in the acquisition. Analysts say that the company would strengthen its portfolio of product offerings a lot if it owned the flash memory power house.
When it comes to Intel, there's little information that could be learned about its level of interest, but, as the giant chip maker moved towards the flash market area, purchasing SanDisk would give it a boost in this direction. Intel would become a powerful player at retail level really fast, as SanDisk enjoys the needed retail level brand awareness. Intel would be able this way to expand the use of its technology on the flash storage and MP3 player field, where it already tried to gain a stronger foothold but failed.