Seagate and Toshiba in bidding contest for TDK's HDD magnetic-head business; STX falls 9%, WDC -6.5%
What happened
Bloomberg reported Tuesday that Seagate Technology and Japan's Toshiba have entered a bidding contest to acquire TDK Corp's business that produces magnetic heads for hard-disk drives. The deal news hit an already-weak memory sector: Seagate shares sank about 9% and Western Digital fell roughly 6.5-7% as investors weighed the cost of a bidding war and broader fears that memory prices may be peaking.
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Start your free 14-day trialWho’s affected
- Seagate (STX) — down ~9% Tuesday; investors wary of a bidding-war premium for the TDK unit
- Western Digital (WDC) — down ~6.5-7% in sympathy and on memory-price peak fears
- Toshiba (6502.T) — potential acquirer; TDK (6762.T) — potential seller, likely positive on proceeds
- Memory/storage sector — extends Monday's selloff; Micron (MU) and peers already soft on WSTS data
Sources