Western Digital is leading the way with a full lineup of SATA 6 Gb/s drives. Over the years the industry has increased bus bandwidth from PATA through SATA 1.5 Gb/s and SATA 3 Gb/s to keep up with the demand for higher transfer rates. The next evolution of bus bandwidth has now been achieved with the introduction of SATA 6 Gb/s, (SATA 3.0). Courtesy of Western Digital

Irvine, Calif. and San Jose, Calif., USA - March 7, 2011

Western Digital (NYSE: WDC) and Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT / TSE:6501) announced today that they have entered into a definitive agreement whereby WD will acquire Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $4.3 billion.

Western Digital - Desktop External Hard Drives Courtesy of Western Digital

The proposed combination will result in a customer-focused storage company, with significant operating scale, strong global talent and the industry's broadest product lineup backed by a rich technology portfolio.

Hitachi GST - External Desktop Drives Courtesy of Hitachi GST

Under the terms of the agreement, WD will acquire Hitachi GST for $3.5 billion in cash and 25 million WD common shares valued at $750 million, based on a WD closing stock price of $30.01 as of March 4, 2011.

Hitachi GST - Duo Pro Drive Left Hero ViewCourtesy of Hitachi GST

Hitachi, Ltd. will own approximately ten percent of Western Digital shares outstanding after issuance of the shares and two representatives of Hitachi will be added to the WD board of directors at closing.

Hitachi GST - Duo Pro Drive Back View Courtesy of Hitachi GST

The transaction has been approved by the board of directors of each company and is expected to close during the third calendar quarter of 2011, subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory approvals.

Western Digital is leading the way with a full lineup of SATA 6 Gb/s drives. We’ve added a SATA 6 Gb/s interface to our award-winning WD Caviar Blue and WD Caviar Black desktop hard drives in capacities from 250 GB to 2 TB. This transition to a SATA 6 Gb/s interface aligns with the introduction of SATA 6 Gb/s-supporting chip sets and motherboards coming to the market. Courtesy of Western Digital

WD plans to fund the transaction with a combination of existing cash and total debt of approximately $2.5 billion.

WD expects the transaction to be immediately accretive to its earnings per share on a non-GAAP basis, excluding acquisition-related expenses, restructuring charges and amortization of intangibles.

Over the years the industry has increased bus bandwidth from PATA through SATA 1.5 Gb/s and SATA 3 Gb/s to keep up with the demand for higher transfer rates. The next evolution of bus bandwidth has now been achieved with the introduction of SATA 6 Gb/s, (SATA 3.0). We’ve added a SATA 6 Gb/s interface to our award-winning WD Caviar Blue and WD Caviar Black desktop hard drives in capacities from 250 GB to 2 TB. This transition to a SATA 6 Gb/s interface aligns with the introduction of SATA 6 Gb/s-supporting chip sets and motherboards coming to the market. The SATA 6 Gb/s interface uses the same connector as SATA 3 Gb/s and is compatible with Microsoft Windows 7/Vista/XP/2000 and Mac OS X. Courtesy of Western Digital

The resulting company will retain the Western Digital name and remain headquartered in Irvine, California.

John Coyne will remain chief executive officer of WD, Tim Leyden chief operating officer and Wolfgang Nickl chief financial officer.

Steve Milligan, president and chief executive officer of Hitachi GST, will join WD at closing as president, reporting to John Coyne.

John Coyne, President and Chief Executive Officer of WD. Courtesy of Western Digital

"The acquisition of Hitachi GST is a unique opportunity for WD to create further value for our customers, stockholders, employees, suppliers and the communities in which we operate," said John Coyne, president and chief executive officer of WD.
"We believe this step will result in several key benefits - enhanced R&D capabilities, innovation and expansion of a rich product portfolio, comprehensive market coverage and scale that will enhance our cost structure and ability to compete in a dynamic marketplace. The skills and contributions of both workforces were key considerations in assessing this compelling opportunity. We will be relying on the proven integration capabilities of both companies to assure the ongoing satisfaction of our customers and to bring this combination to successful fruition."

Steve Milligan, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. Courtesy of Hitachi GST

"This brings together two industry leaders with consistent track records of strong execution and industry outperformance," said Steve Milligan, president and chief executive officer, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies.
"Together we can provide customers worldwide with the industry's most compelling and diverse set of products and services, from innovative personal storage to solid state drives for the enterprise."

Hiroaki Nakanishi, President, Hitachi, Ltd. Courtesy of Hitachi, Ltd.

Hiroaki Nakanishi, president, Hitachi, Ltd. said,
"As the former CEO of Hitachi GST, I always believed in the potential of Hitachi GST to become a larger and more agile company. This is a strategic combination of two industry leaders, both growing and profitable. It provides an opportunity for the new company to increase customer and shareholder value and expand into new markets. Additionally, it is important to us that WD shares common values with Hitachi GST to create a more global company that is well positioned to define a broader role in the evolving storage industry."

WD's exclusive financial adviser on the transaction is Bank of America Merrill Lynch; its lead legal adviser is O'Melveny & Myers LLP. Goldman, Sachs & Co serves as financial adviser to Hitachi, Ltd. and Hitachi GST.

Legal advisers to Hitachi, Ltd. and Hitachi GST are Morrison Foerster LLP and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates, respectively.


About Western Digital


Western Digital, one of the storage industry's pioneers and long-time leaders, provides products and services for people and organizations that collect, manage and use digital information.

The company designs and produces reliable, high-performance hard drives and solid state drives that keep users' data accessible and secure from loss. Its advanced technologies are configured into applications for client and enterprise computing, embedded systems and consumer electronics, as well as its own consumer storage and home entertainment products.

WD was founded in 1970.
The company's storage products are marketed to leading OEMs, systems manufacturers, selected resellers and retailers under the Western Digital® and WD® brand names.

Visit the Investor section of the company's Website

www.westerndigital.com  

to access a variety of financial and investor information.


About Hitachi, Ltd.


Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE:6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 360,000 employees worldwide.

Fiscal 2009 (ended March 31, 2010) consolidated revenues totaled 8,968 billion yen ($96.4 billion).

Hitachi will focus more than ever on the Social Innovation Business, which includes information and telecommunication systems, power systems, environmental, industrial and transportation systems, and social and urban systems, as well as the sophisticated materials and key devices that support them.

For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's Website at

http://www.hitachi.com  


About Hitachi Global Storage Technologies


Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) develops advanced hard disk drives, enterprise-class solid state drives and innovative external storage solutions and services used to store, preserve and manage the world's most valued data.

Founded by the pioneers of hard drives, Hitachi GST provides high-value storage for a broad range of market segments, including Enterprise, Desktop, Mobile computing, Consumer Electronics and Personal Storage.

Hitachi GST was established in 2003 and maintains its U.S. headquarters in San Jose, California.

For more information, please visit the company's Website at

http://www.hitachigst.com  


Source: Western Digital

http://www.wdc.com/en/company/pressroom/releases.aspx?release=ba433e4b-bff8-4d99-b60f-7f02aa42f444  


For more information contact:

Jim Pascoe
Hitachi Global Storage Technologies
408-717-7924
james.pascoe@hitachigst.com  



John F. Coyne

President and Chief Executive Officer of Western Digital Corporation

John F. Coyne Courtesy of WD

John Coyne is president and chief executive officer of Western Digital.
He is a member of WD’s board of directors, has been president since May 2006 and became CEO in January 2007.

Coyne has dedicated the majority of his career to WD, serving the company in many capacities around the globe.

Coyne originally joined WD in 1983 to start the company’s PCBA operations in his native Ireland.
Based in Malaysia beginning in 1997, he planned and implemented WD’s consolidation of all worldwide hard drive manufacturing into Malaysia in January 2000, the expansion of the company’s drive operations into Thailand in January 2002 and manufacturing operations related to the acquisition and integration of the Read-Rite magnetic head business in Thailand in August 2003.

During his career, Coyne has progressed through positions of increasing responsibility in engineering, manufacturing, materials, marketing and general management, primarily in the electronics industry.

A native of Dublin, Ireland, Coyne received his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from University College Dublin in 1971.


Source: Western Digital

http://www.wdc.com/en/company/corporateinfo/corp_bios.aspx  



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