Western Digital acquires storage giant for $19 billion

Storage giant, Western Digital, announced yesterday that it has agreed to buy SanDisk Corp. for about $19 billion.

The deal put an $86.50 value on SanDisk shares, which is 15% premium on the previous day’s closing price, giving the company a $15.4 billion valuation.

This acquisition brings together two of the largest storage companies in the world. SanDisk, with its deep investment in flash memory chips represents a future without Western Digital’s spinning disk hard drives.

However, despite early extensive growth, SanDisk has not been doing too well lately. In similar vein, Western Digital has been watching its core business slip away as the industry gravitates towards flash memory.

SanDisk CEO, Sanjay Mehrotra is expected to join the board of Western Digital once the deal is close, while Western Digital CEO, Steve Milligan is expected to continue in that same role.