On Sunday Xerox announced that the merger was off and that they had reached a settlement with the activist shareholders that blocked the merger. The only real loss for Fujifilm is that they will not gain Xerox’s direct access to distribution channels in North America and Europe, which could have been used to help their camera and medical devices businesses. It appears that Xerox decided to hold out for a better cash deal and Fujifilm was probably wise not to make their offer more generous due to Xerox’s current health.
This may not be the end of merger discussions if Xerox continues falling on hard times then Fujifilm could come in at a later date and make a better deal for Fujifilm, but at this point, it sounds like the two companies are parting ways. Of course, their current partnership that has profited Fujifilm greatly will remain intact, but I don’t see how a break down like this won’t hurt future endeavors between the two companies, Fujifilm and others will have to worry about Xerox’s activist shareholders getting involved in future business decisions going forward.
via bloomberg
