HP Inc. said Monday it would acquire Samsung Electronics’ printer business for $1.05 billion in a move to revitalize the shrinking printer market by replacing copiers with multifunction technology.
HP leads the printer market but its revenue from ink and toner supplies declined 18% in the third fiscal quarter from the year-earlier period, while printer hardware unit sales fell 10%, reflecting in part the digitalization of the workplace.
With the Samsung deal, the company is hoping to boost its profile in the business of A3 multifunction printers (MFPs) that handle printing and copying for office work groups. It is the largest print acquisition in HP’s history.
“Samsung has built a formidable portfolio of A3 MFPs that deliver the performance of copiers with the power, simplicity, reliability and ease-of-use of printers and with as few as seven replaceable parts,” HP said in a news release.
“Integrating the Samsung printer business’ products, including their mobile-first and cloud-first user experience, with HP’s next-generation PageWide technologies will create a breakthrough portfolio of printing solutions with the industry’s best device, document, and data security,” it added.
As The Wall Street Journal reports, Samsung also has more than 6,500 printing patents and manufactures the crucial mechanisms inside laser printers, known as printing engines. HP has used external suppliers, primarily Canon, for those parts.
According to International Data Corp., worldwide shipments of printers declined 10.6% year-over-year to 23,114,918 devices shipped in the first quarter of 2016. Samsung, the world’s fifth-largest printer maker, doesn’t break out sales figures for its printer business, but its consumer products division accounted for only 4.7% of operating profit last year.
Hewlett-Packard split into two companies last year, with HP Enterprise focusing on selling hardware like servers to corporate customers, and HP specializing in personal computers and printers.
“The acquisition of Samsung’s printer business allows us to deliver print innovation and create entirely new business opportunities with far better efficiency, security, and economics for customers,” HP CEO Dion Weisler said Monday.