Toshiba threatens to sue WD
TOKYO: Toshiba Corp has told partner Western Digital Corp to stop interfering in plans to sell its memory chip business, warning it may take legal action to prevent the American company from derailing the sale.
Toshiba sent two letters to Western Digital on May 3: the first from Toshiba’s lawyers asserts the Japanese company’s right to sell its part of the semiconductor joint venture, despite objections from Western Digital.
The second, sent by Toshiba to Western Digital’s chief legal officer, says the company failed to ratify a proposal to formalise their relationship after a merger, and that Toshiba would bar Western Digital employees from its facilities and networks unless it complies by May 15.
Western Digital became Toshiba’s flash-memory manufacturing partner when it acquired SanDisk Corp for US$15.8 billion (RM68.66 billion) last year.
That unit may now pass into the hands of a new owner after Toshiba decided to put it up for sale to shore up its balance sheet. Bloomberg