PVI to buy E Ink for $215 million

[Hadrien]

From Engadget:

You may not know who Taiwan-based Prime View International is but the makers of the Amazon Kindle and Sony Reader sure do. See, PVI is the company that builds the electronic paper displays for the world's most popular ebook readers. Now, it's also the expectant owner of US-based E Ink and all the associated patents that come with. The deal, if approved by government regulators, is expected to close by October.

[sirbruce]

According to Wikipedia:

"In 2005, [E Ink] sold the electronic paper business as well as its related patents to Prime View International."

Frankly, I don't know what other valuable assets E Ink still held, or how they were generating revenue. The company website implies they make displays, but if PVI was making all the displays, what was E Ink making?

[ahammer]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

According to Wikipedia:

"In 2005, [E Ink] sold the electronic paper business as well as its related patents to Prime View International."

Frankly, I don't know what other valuable assets E Ink still held, or how they were generating revenue. The company website implies they make displays, but if PVI was making all the displays, what was E Ink making?

all the associated patents that come with

think this is why they are buying them out.

[HarryT]

Is that 215 million US$ or Taiwan $? The US$ is worth around 33 Taiwan $ .

[Daithi]

I'm with sirbruce. If E Ink Corp. already sold PVI the electronic paper business to PVI in 2005 then what exactly is PVI buying today?

[seamusfp]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

According to Wikipedia:

"In 2005, [E Ink] sold the electronic paper business as well as its related patents to Prime View International."

Frankly, I don't know what other valuable assets E Ink still held, or how they were generating revenue. The company website implies they make displays, but if PVI was making all the displays, what was E Ink making?

The wrong company is in [], in 2005 Philips divested themselves from the display business, and they sold their business of making TFTs for E Ink

[chef]

Originally Posted by sirbruce

According to Wikipedia:

"In 2005, [E Ink] sold the electronic paper business as well as its related patents to Prime View International."

Frankly, I don't know what other valuable assets E Ink still held, or how they were generating revenue. The company website implies they make displays, but if PVI was making all the displays, what was E Ink making?

Wikipedia got this one wrong. E Ink sold E Ink imaging film (later called E Ink Vizplex) to PVI as they were a partner, not investor nor owner. E Ink makes the ink and E Ink Vizplex film. PVI bought the film to make the displays. And of course, E Ink had ALL of its intellectual property too.

What Wikipedia page did you find that on? I couldn't find that statement on E Ink's page. Maybe it was already edited by the time I looked.

[Daithi]

A little research and now I think I understand things. It looks like E Ink Corp's business was to supply their Vizplex™ imaging film to PVI who then produced the electronic displays, and PVI didn't buy E Ink Corp's electronic paper business in 2005, but bought Phillips electronic paper business in 2005 who had been E Ink Corp's original partner.

Here's a quote from the E Ink Press release regarding the sale.

The deal is the capstone in a transformation at PVI over the past four years to focus on electronic paper displays. In 2005, PVI acquired the ePaper business of Philips Electronics and partnered with E Ink to provide displays for electronic books including the popular SONY Reader and the Amazon Kindle 2 and Kindle DX. PVI also invested heavily in dedicated driver chips and touch screens for ePaper, as well as flexible displays, which will be marketed later this year.

E Ink and PVI currently support nearly 20 eBook manufacturers worldwide. In addition to electronic books, E Ink’s Vizplex™ imaging film is used in cellphones, signage, smartcards, memory devices, and battery indicators. E Ink sales were $18M in the first quarter of 2009, up 157% over the same quarter in 2008.

With the merger, PVI gains substantial intellectual property and employee talent, while securing supply of a critical component during the rapid growth phase of the market, and adding alliances and relationships across the ePaper and flexible display industry.

[sirbruce]

You're right, I replaced Phillips with E Ink in the Wikipedia article as that's what I thought they meant, but obviously I was wrong and it turns out Wikipedia was wrong to boot. Anyway it's already been edited:
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?...ldid=293742157

[lee1234]

wow! Hope we can see color E Ink soon because of the deal!

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by lee1234

wow! Hope we can see color E Ink soon because of the deal!

How soon is soon? Perhaps we will see the first gen color screens in 2010, more likely later than earlier. I doubt the deal makes any difference. PVI is certainly still busy trying to get a 9.7" screen out that makes everyone happy and now the new thrust is 5" which will likely slow down the 9.7" and color effort although it will generate revenue which may help.

Dale

[4youreyes]

Found this article on MSN money http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/tic...90&Symbol=INTC Wendy

[zelda_pinwheel]

hi wendy, thanks very much for the link.

since we've already got a thread about this news i'm going to merge your post with that one over here.