[Seagate Acquires Maxtor]

[Seagate Acquires Maxtor] - Computers

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Seagate Acquires Maxtor
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Posted by: Harper

WHOA!!!!! I did not expect to see this......
[url]http://www.seagate.com/cda/newsinfo/newsroom/releases/article/0,,3183,00.html[/url]
[QUOTE][b]SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF MAXTOR CORPORATION[/b]

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif.ā€”22 May 2006ā€”Integration to be Substantially Completed by Early Calendar 2007

Seagate Technology (NYSE: STX) today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Maxtor Corporation. The combined company retains the Seagate name and continues to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange as "STX." Maxtor common stock has ceased to trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

The integration of former Maxtor operations into Seagate is expected to be substantially completed by early calendar 2007, with an earnings per share accretion target of 10-20% after the first year of combined operations.

"This is an exciting time for Seagate and for our industry," said Bill Watkins, Seagate president and CEO. "The demand for storage is at record levels globally and is continuing to grow. The past twenty years was about digitizing the workplace; the next decade will be focused on digitizing your lifestyle. As a result of this acquisition, we believe Seagate has the enhanced scale and capacity to better drive technology advances and accelerate delivery of a wide range of differentiated products and cost-effective solutions to a growing customer base."

"Our integration teams have made excellent progress on addressing customer requirements, continuity of supply, the optimization of manufacturing and production capacity, and workforce planning," said Dave Wickersham, executive vice president and COO. "As a result we have an opportunity to substantially complete our integration plan in six to nine months."

"We are encouraged by the dialogue we've had with customers and are confident that the combined company will deliver more compelling products and services more efficiently to them," said Brian Dexheimer, executive vice president, Global Sales and Marketing. "Our integration plan is designed to ensure revenue retention by executing a seamless transition to Seagate products for Maxtor customers and by continuing to meet the product, supply, quality and cost demands of our total combined customer base."

Seagate estimates that approximately 50% of Maxtor's worldwide employees will be offered positions with the combined company moving forward, with the vast majority of those located in Asia Pacific manufacturing operations.

Adding to Seagate's own line of branded products, Seagate will retain a full range of Maxtor branded retail solutions. Maxtor is the leading brand name in the retail space and it will significantly strengthen Seagate's overall position in this burgeoning market. The combination of the two brands and the associated product lines represents the widest, most differentiated storage offering available to consumers today.

Conference Call
Company management will hold a conference call to discuss completion of the acquisition today at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Time. The conference call can be accessed live via telephone as follows:

USA: 877-223-6202
International: 706-679-3742

A replay of the call will be available beginning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time today through May 29, 2006 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, and can be accessed online at [url]www.seagate.com/newsinfo/invest[/url] or by telephone as follows:

USA: 800-642-1687
International: 706-645-9291
Access code: 9162676

About Seagate
Seagate is the worldwide leader in the design, manufacturing and marketing of hard disc drives, providing products for a wide-range of Enterprise, Desktop, Mobile Computing, and Consumer Electronics applications. Seagate's business model leverages technology leadership and world-class manufacturing to deliver industry-leading innovation and quality to its global customers, and to be the low cost producer in all markets in which it participates. The company is committed to providing award-winning products, customer support and reliability to meet the world's growing demand for information storage. Seagate can be found around the globe and at [url]www.seagate.com.[/url]

Seagate, Seagate Technology and the Wave logo are registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC.

Safe Harbor
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements related to future financial performance and expected earnings accretion from the Maxtor acquisition, the timeline for the integration of the former Maxtor operations into Seagate, price and product competition, customer demand for our products, and general market conditions. These forward-looking statements are based on information available to Seagate as of the date of this press release. Current expectations, forecasts and assumptions involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by these forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include a variety of factors, some of which are beyond the company's control. In particular, such risks and uncertainties include Seagate's ability to integrate the Maxtor acquisition into its operations; the impact of the variable demand and the aggressive pricing environment for disc drives; dependence on the company's ability to successfully manufacture in increasing volumes on a cost-effective basis and with acceptable quality its current and new disc drive products; the adverse impact of competitive product announcements and possible excess industry supply with respect to particular disc drive products; the impact of the actual closing of the acquisition of Maxtor on the company's financial results, including without limitation due to charges associated with restructuring, purchase accounting and other related transaction costs, and due to shifting of customer demand to the company's competitors or aggressive pricing specially targeted to encourage such shifting; and the possibility that the combination of Seagate and Maxtor will not provide the anticipated benefits to the combined company on the projected timeline, if at all. Information concerning additional factors that could cause results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements is contained in the company's Annual Report on Form 10-K as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on August 1, 2005; in the company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q as filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on April 28, 2006; and in the Company's Registration Statement on Form S-4, as originally filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on March 14, 2006 and as amended on April 13, 2006. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the company's views as of any subsequent date and Seagate undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date they were made.[/QUOTE]

With my success with Seagates and my contant badluck with Maxtors, I am not sure if this is a good thing, or a bad thing.

Posted by: thebleakness

I remember hearing about this a long time ago. Like someone said before, Will this make maxtor drives more relible? or seagates more un-reliable?

Posted by: talldude123

And Seagate HD's are better quality than Maxtor. Will this open up to better quality Maxtor HD's?

Posted by: Harper

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by talldude123 [/i]
[B]And Seagate HD's are better quality than Maxtor. Will this open up to better quality Maxtor HD's? [/B][/QUOTE] Or will it.

Seagate is keep 50% of the Maxtor Staff. However I don't imagine Seagate is going to bulldoze Maxtor's existing production plants.

Posted by: talldude123

I've never used Maxtor. My Emachines from 1999 had a 15GB Seagate HD, and it broke down after heavy use, and was replaced by a WD 40GB in 2003. I'm still using that WD on my current PC.

Posted by: Lord AnthraX

thats what happens when you download intense gay porno and viruses:D

Posted by: bigbaddog

Glad to see Maxtor gone...had nothing but trouble with them. Then I started using Seagate exclusively. Can't beat a five year warranty.

Posted by: talldude123

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Lord AnthraX [/i]
[B]thats what happens when you download intense gay porno and viruses:D [/B][/QUOTE]

first of all, i'm straight. and proud.

second, back in 1999, where was P2P?

Posted by: Harper

This came in on my inbox not so long ago
[QUOTE]From: Seagate Technology [mailto:seagate@en25.com]
Sent: Thursday, 25 May 2006 4:02 PM
To: HARPER
Subject: Seagate Has EXCITING News!

[b]Seagate has exciting news![/b]

The acquisition of Maxtor is final and we expect the combined company to generate significant synergies through an expanded product portfolio, partner program enhancements, and attractive business propositions. We believe that the shared business practices will further enable our partners to expand their market reach and operational functionality.

Both SPP and MaxtorVIP members should expect all products, programs, terms and conditions to be consistent and available at least through the end of the first quarter in September.

We will send out periodic updates via our SPP newsletter on the status of the integration of Maxtor into Seagate and keep our partner web site updated with any new developments. You can always find the latest information by visiting the Seagate Partner Program (SPP) site at spp.seagate.com and refer to the FAQ's.

We appreciate your loyalty to Seagate and we welcome the MaxtorVIP members into our SPP community.
[/QUOTE]

I have noticed that now all Maxtor Warranties are looked after via Seagate now.

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by bigbaddog [/i]
[B]Can't beat a five year warranty. [/B][/QUOTE]
5 Year Warranty Accross All Seagate Hardrive Products..... Now that is showing faith in their product reliability.

In 5 years, I would be half way into my 2nd computer.

Posted by: Harper

[quote]From: Seagate Technology [mailto:seagate@en25.com]
Sent: Thursday, 22 June 2006 11:11 AM
To: HARPER
Subject: Seagate News Alert!

Reaffirming its commitment to Maxtor channel partners following its acquisition of the company, Seagate today said that it will continue to offer Maxtor-branded products at retailers and in the channel for the foreseeable future. The company also confirmed it will provide full service and support for Maxtor products and honor all Maxtor product warranties long term.

Seagate and Maxtor distributors and channel partners can expect all programs and terms and conditions to remain unchanged through the end of September, at which time Seagate expects to announce enhancements to the current programs.

“Now that we’ve completed our acquisition of Maxtor, we expect the greater strength and scale of the combined company to generate new business opportunities for our channel partners as we leverage two strong brands and create significant new synergies,” said Jeff Loebbaka, Senior Vice President Global Channel Sales and Corporate Marketing.

“The future for Seagate and its channel partners holds great promise,”
Loebbaka added. “We expect the combined company to be well-positioned to accelerate delivery of a diverse set of compelling and cost-effective solutions to the growing customer base for data storage products.”

Seagate’s distributors and channel partners can expect further updates on the company’s integration of Maxtor products and channel programs as more information is available.[/quote]

This sound very familare to when Maxtor aquired Quantium. It it about 1 1/2 to 2 years, and the Maxtor name will be discontinued.

Posted by: NathanM

So one of the best bought one of the worst. Heh, interesting.

Posted by: Harper

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by NathanM [/i]
[B]So one of the best bought one of the worst. Heh, interesting. [/B][/QUOTE] That sums it up. I just hope that Seagate just pulls the plug on maxtor

Posted by: Harper

[url]http://www.crn.com.au/story.aspx?CIID=58336&eid=4&edate=20060817[/url]
[QUOTE][B]Seagate to keep Maxtor brand[/B]

Seagate Technology on Wednesday said it plans to pursue a dual-brand strategy in the wake of its US$1.9 billion acquisition of fellow hard-drive maker Maxtor.

Seagate, which closed its acquisition of Maxtor in May, will continue to use both the Seagate and Maxtor brands, with each having its own identity for a particular range of products, said Marc Jourlait, vice president of segment marketing for the storage vendor.

The aim is to maintain and differentiate the two brands similar to the way Hewlett-Packard does with its Pavilion and Presario brands, Jourlait said. Pavilion is a native HP brand, while Presario came via the Compaq acquisition.

"For customers, integrators and system builders, it's a matter of giving them choice," Jourlait said.

"The name, product and wraparound marketing will be separate. We want to capitalise on the fact that both brands have brand-name recognition."

The task of maintaining both brands won't be difficult, since there was little product overlap between the legacy Seagate and Maxtor organizations, according to Jourlait.

The Seagate brand will be used for leading technology, such as 750-Gbyte drives, hybrid drives with built-in flash memory cache and models with built-in encryption, he said.

"We continue to be six years ahead of everyone else in technology," Jourlait said. "We have the support for higher-end relationships, including the engineering support."

The Maxtor brand will be used for basic desktop and notebook PC hard drives. Maxtor previously didn't offer laptop drives, Jourlait said.

In October, Seagate plans to formally launch the Maxtor MobileMax notebook hard-drive line to complement its Momentus mobile PC drive line, he said.

Seagate also expects different buyers for the two brands, Jourlait added.

The company expects Seagate-branded products to appeal to tech-savvy customers seeking the latest technology and Maxtor-branded products to attract more price-conscious customers, he said.

As part of the new branding, Seagate will continue to support Maxtor's current customer base, as well as maintain and refocus Maxtor's DiamondMax product line.

The MobileMax line will include laptop hard drives in 40GB to 100GB capacities, while the Momentus brand will comprise 120GB and 160GB drives.

Seagate also plans to launch a new series of 40GB to 320GB hard drives under the DiamondMax line.

Going forward, Seagate plans to differentiate the Seagate and Maxtor brands as much as possible, Jourlait noted. "We don't want a direct comparison between the lines that people can arbitrage," he said. [/QUOTE]

That really strange. Most of the time you see one name dissappear while the other going on. Simulare to waht happened with Maxtor took over Quantium.

I guess that Seagate is going to star rebadging all the hard drives coming out of their china factory as MAXTOR now.

Most of my Seagate RMA are from their China Factory. I rarely see a Seagate RMA drive from the Tiawan factory.

At least with the Seagate still keeping the Maxtor name, I am a little bit at ease knowing that Seagate drives might not turn to $#!+.

Posted by: MrCoffee

The only good thing about Maxtor was Quantum, and they only really played a part in their scsi drives

Posted by: Harper

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by MrCoffee [/i]
[B]The only good thing about Maxtor was Quantum, and they only really played a part in their scsi drives [/B][/QUOTE] That's the problem.
Quantum was a very good drive..... and then they got taken over my maxtor.....

Seagate saying that they are going to keep the Maxtor name is strange. My attitude is "Yeah.... for how long?"
It's only going to be a matter of time before Seagate releases that keeping the 2 names is just a waste of their time and money. And then, it will be either SEAGATE or MAXTOR will be the only one standing.