Xerox, America's most well-known copier company announced its acquisition by Fujifilm in a statement released by the company. According to Bloomberg, this acquisition will create a new company worth $18 billion. As reported by NPR, that new company's name will be Fuji Xerox. Fujifilm and Xerox have long since had an established joint venture, also, called Fuji Xerox since 1962 with Fujifilm having owned 75% of that venture, according to NPR. Now, Fujifilm will acquire the rest of Xerox as well.
A struggling company
Xerox has long since been pressed to find new sources of growth as its copier business struggled with the advent of email, and digital sharing services such as Dropbox have lessened the demand for copying and printing.
This deal would end Xerox's year-long decline according to the Wall Street Journal. The company has also been under pressure by investors to make major changes such as exploring other avenues of growth. This acquisition merges Xerox with a company that has long since diversified from its core business, film photography.
Xerox isn't the only company that has struggled with declining copy sales. Fujifilm, which has a photocopy business as well, has also had a recent drop in photocopy sales, according to Fortune. However, Fujifilm, on the whole, is doing better than Xerox due to its diversification from photocopies and film photography. According to the Wall Street Journal, Fujifilm gets most of its revenue through health care, focusing on everything from skin care to pharmaceuticals.
Xerox's history
Xerox has been around since the start of the 20th century, for about 115 years. Though the company is well known for its copiers, it also invented the graphic interface and mouse that are still used with today's computers. However, the invention of the graphic interface and mouse was popularized later on by other companies such as Microsoft and did not become commercially successful for the company.
The company's relationship with Fujifilm goes back many years, starting with a joint venture in the 1960s to sell products and services in the Asia-Pacific region. Fujifilm, itself, has had some trouble in recent years, as it had weathered accusations of having improper accounting standards in the joint venture, also called Fuji Xerox.
It is hoped that Xerox's strong standards will be good for the new company.
This acquisition brings both companies even closer and starts a new chapter in Xerox's history. After the merger, the new company, Fuji Xerox, will have headquarters in both Norwalk, Connecticut and Tokyo, and trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
