Ericsson(NASDAQ:ERIC) and STMicroelectronics(NYSE:STM) have jointly reportedly announced the closing of the transaction for the split-up of ST-Ericsson. This follows the announcement the companies made on March 18, 2013 on the chosen strategic option for the future of the joint venture.
Effective August 2, 2013, Ericsson has taken on the design, development and sales of the LTE multimode thin modem solutions, including 2G, 3G and 4G interoperability. In total, approximately 1,800 employees and contractors have joined Ericsson.
ST has taken on the existing ST-Ericsson products, other than LTE multimode thin modems, and the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) connectivity solution sold to a third party, and related business as well as certain assembly and test facilities. In total, approximately 1,000 employees have joined STMicroelectronics.
Ericsson and ST have taken the expenses and the margin of their respective activities since March 2, 2013.
Douglas Gilstrap, Senior Vice-President & Chief Strategist, Ericsson, said, We welcome the team of about 1,800 modem-experts that join Ericsson. Ericsson continues to see great value in the LTE multimode thin modems as they are an important part of our vision of 50 billion connected devices in a Networked Society. The market potential is there and Ericsson will now focus on bringing the best modems to market, and work closely with customers to integrate them into their products.
Georges Penalver, Executive Vice-President, Chief Strategy Officer, ST, said, āWe have finalized the agreement fully on track to our plan, with minimized social impact and lower exit costs than anticipated. We welcome our new employees as we are adding strong competencies in the areas of embedded processing, RF, analog and power technologies, as well as in software and complex system integration, to fuel growth in many of our product areaswhere we have significant business opportunitiesā.
The close down of the remaining parts of ST Ericsson has started and both parents are assuming equal funding of the wind-down activities.
