Kyocera to buy out Sanyo's cell devision
January 21, 2008 - Kyocera are buying out Sanyo's cell phone division for 50 billion yen (approx $375 million). The deal, which will go into effect on April 1st of this year, means that 2,000 Sanyo cell phone division employees will be transferred to Kyocera. The company also retains the right to use the Sanyo brand, and also gets resources related to handset R&D, marketing, and a portfolio of patents that Sanyo owned.
Although Sanyo handsets are popular in Japan, they have not made a big impact on the US market.
Sanyo's exit from the handset business was heralded by their 2006 decision to withdraw from most markets, after which point they primarily dealt with Sprint Nextel. In September, 2007, Sanyo sold off several handset-related divisions. The next month they officially announced they were in talks with Kyocera about and local sales in Japan, withdrawing from the European market. This deal was first made public in October, 2007, when both companies announced they were discussing the sale.
