Psst! Wanna Buy a Company?

The earth is shaking over at Panasonic. First, as we reported earlier, Panasonic ditched the name of its founder, Matsushita, and will go by Panasonic from now on. And now we learn from Bloomberg Japan that Panasonic has agreed to buy a controlling stake in Sanyo. Reportedly, the deal should be finalized by April. Panasonic is already the world's largest consumer electronics company, and the purchase will make it even bigger, with revenues of $110 billion.

Panasonic says that the Sanyo name will still appear on products, and that they will retain most of Sanyo's employees. Riiight.

Panasonic and Sanyo presidents will hold a press conference Nov. 7th to announce details of the acquisition. Panasonic plans to take control of Sanyo by buying preferred shares owned by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp., Daiwa Securities SMBC Co., and Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

Well, airlines are buying other airlines, and banks are buying other banks. I guess it makes sense that the same would hold true for consumer electronics companies. You know — lower operating costs, more market share, economies of scale, that sort of thing. Eventually, I guess every company will combine into one big entity. It will be called The Company. —Ken C. Pohlmann

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