After four months of courting, Samsung has launched a hostile takeover of SanDisk in a bid valued at $5.85 billion. The Korean electronics manufacturer expressed “disappointment” that SanDisk would not agree to its prior offers. SanDisk officials have rejected the offer.
How this shakes out may have some effects on the MP3 marketplace. In addition to being the largest provider of memory cards, SanDisk also enjoys the number two spot in market share for flash-based MP3 players after Apple. It’s Sansa device is deeply integrated with the Rhapsody music subscription service, and the company recently bought struggling WiFi music device/service MusicGremlin.
Samsung, meanwhile, has been rather quiet on the MP3 front. It has several devices in the Asian market, but in the last year has backed off its U.S. presence in the face of weak sales. It’s much stronger, however, in the mobile phone space, and sources say Samsung is prepping a mobile music service of its own.
