احتمال ادغام دو شرکت ایسر و ایسوس !

Asus and Acer may be thinking about a merger

Microsoft bought Nokia, so what’s next in the mobile world? Well, Acer and Asus could merge. The two Taiwanese companies (referred to as ‘double A’ by Asian press) are now more open than ever to a possible merger between them.

Asus Chairman Johnny Shih yesterday responded to a question about a possible merger by saying that while the industry is in a transition period, people should keep “an open mind” about such things.

In the past, Shih loved to talk about organic growth for his company, but now he’s had an intriguing change of attitude. With his company’s main business, the motherboard sales, going down from year to year, Asus has been obviously focusing more and more on mobile products in recent times. Up until now, the company’s had more high-end offerings than lower-end ones, but that could change in the future.

Acer founder Stan Shih also said something about being open-minded on mergers and acquisitions, but stressed that for any deal to happen, it must be thought through in a way that gives maximum benefits to all the relevant stakeholders for both companies, including shareholders, employees, and even society as a whole. If Acer can create greater value through such a move, then it will go for it. If not, then it won’t.

Of course, these are nothing but (rather) random thoughts at this point in time. Yet if both Shihs keep their open minds, and then engage in a conversation on the subject, who knows what could happen. The stock markets reacted to these mumblings, as Asus shares rose 1.69% yesterday, while Acer shares were up by 0.5%.