Irvine-based Western Digital Corp. has agreed to sell its business of 3.5-inch hard disk drives to Toshiba Corp., clearing another regulatory hurdle in its bid to acquire San Jose-based Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Ltd.
Western Digital, as part of the deal, will acquire Thailand-based Toshiba Storage Device Company Ltd., whose hard-drive manufacturing operation was walloped by last year’s floods in the region. Financial terms of the deals, which closed this month, were not disclosed.
The closing of the Toshiba transaction is subject to Western Digital completing its $4.3 billion deal for Hitachi.
Western Digital agreed to a series of conditions to gain approval from the European Union, including selling off its business of 3.5-inch hard disk drives, including a production plant and related assets. The divestiture also includes the transfer or licensing of intellectual property rights, the transfer of personnel, and supply of certain disk drive components.
Hard disk drives store and allow access to data. Western Digital’s disk drives go into computers, external storage devices, corporate networks and consumer electronics such as DVR players.
In other Western Digital news, the company joined a group of Hollywood studios and industry leaders to form the Secure Content Storage Association. The organization—which includes Los Angeles-based 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and Warner Bros., and flash storage maker SanDisk Corp. of Milpitas—is developing a system for consumers to easily organize, store and move high-definition digital movies and TV shows faster across multiple devices. The SCSA will create and license technologies that secure HD and other premium copyright-protected content on local and portable hard drives, and flash-memory products such as USB flash drives, SD cards and solid-state disk drives, which use chips instead of spinning disks to store data.
Desai on Board
H.K. Desai, chairman of Aliso Viejo-based QLogic Corp., has joined the board of computer-memory products maker Netlist Inc. in Irvine.
Desai served as QLogic’s chief executive for 15 years since its early days as a spinoff of rival Emulex Corp. of Costa Mesa. He handed over the reins in late 2010 to Simon Biddiscombe, who was promoted from chief financial officer.
“His leadership and proven track record in the development of innovative technologies and the successful expansion of QLogic’s business make him an invaluable member of our board, as we continue to execute on our growth and investment strategies,” Netlist Chairman and Chief Executive C.K. Hong said.
Separately, Netlist said annual sales rose 60% last year to $60.7 million. It reported a 12-month loss of nearly $5.6 million, compared to $15.1 million in red ink a year earlier.
Netlist makes memory boards with specialized controller chips that help manage other memory within servers.
Quest Acquisition
Aliso Viejo-based Quest Software Inc. has acquired BlueFolder Inc., a business software maker in Colorado Springs, Colo., on undisclosed terms.
BlueFolder’s software will be integrated in Quest’s suite portfolio, which helps business access information remotely, link networks, expand management applications and carry out other tasks, such as expense reports, billing, time cards and payroll.
Quest—set to debut new products this month—makes software that manages and improves on business products from Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp. in Redwood Shores, New York-based IBM Corp. and others.
The Business Journal reported last month that Vinny Smith is returning to the chief executive post at Quest. Smith served in that role from 1997 to 2008, when he became executive chairman, a post he’ll continue to fill.
He replaces Doug Garn, who was promoted from president to chief executive in 2008. Garn is assuming the role of vice chairman due to health considerations.
SEC Review
The Los Angeles office of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s enforcement division opened an investigation into Broadcom Corp. accounting practices related to litigation reserves, the Irvine-based chipmaker disclosed in an SEC filing.
The investigation was prompted by a former employee’s allegations last spring involving litigation reserves and intellectual-property claims, company officials said. Broadcom said it completed an internal review and found no improprieties.
After the review, Broadcom said there was no need to restate financial statements for 2010 and or first quarter 2011.
The SEC has requested documents and information dating from June 1, 2010, to the present.
Broadcom said it is cooperating with the SEC’s investigation.
The company is a frequent buyer and investor.
It has bought three companies since last May: VKernel Corp., RemoteScan Corp. and BakBone Software Inc.
