Swedish telecom equipment vendor, Ericsson, said will sell its 50 percent stake in Sony Ericsson’s theirs to its partner, Sony. The total value of these sales could reach 1.47 billion U.S. dollars.
“Sony will take a 50 percent stake in Sony Ericsson Ericsson mobile devices so that business is wholly owned by Sony,” as stated by representatives of Ericsson said in a statement. Statement of Ericsson is confirming rumors that have long circulated that they would “come out” of the joint venture Sony Ericsson. In addition, this announcement is indirectly dismissed rumors that Sony would abandon this cooperation.
Cooperation “Japan-Sweden” was started in 2001 by combining Sony Ericsson’s and then a cell phone products less marketable. The combination of these two vendors to make their current business into six major mobile devices. In a statement, Ericsson demonstrated that the cell phone market has changed dramatically over the past decade, with the focus of a massive shift to smartphones.
“Ten years ago we agreed to form a joint venture. Merging knowledge of consumer products that are owned by Sony and Ericsson that has specialized in communications technology is the perfect mix for industrial control feature phone,” said Ericsson Chief Executive Hans Vestberg in a statement.