Possible merger of Western Digital and Kioxia apparently close to agreement

The planned merger of Western Digital and Kioxia is apparently close to an agreement. This is reported by the Wall Street Journal. A sum of more than 20 billion US dollars is in the room, which Western Digital would pay in shares.

Merger in the hot phase

Western Digital and Kioxia have been collaborating for some time in the manufacture and development of 3D NAND flash memory for products such as SSDs and smartphones. Now WD is apparently planning to acquire Kioxia outright and would let the merger cost more than $20 billion in stock, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal citing sources familiar with the matter.

An agreement could be reached as early as mid-September. The leadership for the combined company would go to Western Digital CEO David Goeckeler, according to the report. In the case of a merger, unlike a takeover, Kioxia would disappear completely from the market – it is therefore conceivable that the group would not agree to a merger.

Already at the beginning of the year, the Wall Street Journal reported that Micron was planning a merger with the memory expert from Kioxia in addition to Western Digital. In the meantime, however, Micron’s interest has waned, as the newspaper reports. Kioxia (formerly known as Toshiba Memory) is currently the second largest manufacturer of NAND flash. Through a merger with Western Digital, both companies would catch up with market leader Samsung.