ARLX007 Motorola buys Yaesu
This from the ARRL:
ZCZC AX07
QST de W1AW
Special Bulletin 7 ARLX007
From ARRL Headquarters
Newington CT November 5, 2007
To all radio amateursSB SPCL ARL ARLX007
ARLX007 Motorola buys YaesuMotorola USA has announced its intention to launch a tender offer to acquire a controlling interest in Vertex Standard Co, Ltd. Vertex Standard is the parent company of Yaesu. Motorola will own 80 percent of Vertex Standard; Tokogiken, a privately held Japanese company, controlled by current president and CEO of Vertex Standard Jun Hasegawa, will retain 20 percent, forming a joint venture. The total purchase price for 80 percent of the outstanding shares on a fully diluted basis will be approximately US $108 million.
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/EX
What’s been most amusing about this is not the news itself, but all the speculation about what’s going to happen to Yaesu’s amateur radio line. It will be interesting to see what happens. I doubt very much that Motorola really wants to get into the amateur radio business, so the division will undoubtedly get sold off sooner or later. One would hope it would get sold to some people who really care about and know the amateur radio market, but the size of that market is really insignificant compared with other markets that I’m not hopeful about that.
