Western Digital

WD is one of the pioneers and leaders of the storage market, offering its products to individuals and organizations engaged in the collection, processing and use of digital information. The company designs and manufactures hard disk drives and solid state drives. WD's developments are used in client devices, corporate computing systems, embedded systems and consumer electronics, as well as in its own consumer-grade drives and audio-video devices.

The company's storage products are supplied to OEMs and a number of resellers and retail organizations under the Western Digital and WD brands.

Performance indicators

The fiscal year ends in late June or early July.

2023: $1.71 billion loss

At the end of the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023, Western Digital received net losses of $1.71 billion. For comparison, the previous fiscal year, one of the world's largest hard drive suppliers ended with a net profit of $1.5 billion. Such data are provided in a report released on July 31, 2023.

Western Digital's revenue in fiscal 2023 was approximately $12.32 billion. This is 34% less than the result for the previous fiscal year, when the company received $18.79 billion. The deterioration in indicators is explained by the sharply reduced demand for drives: corporate customers, against the background of the current macroeconomic situation, began to reduce investments in the development of their IT infrastructures, and the pace of expansion of cloud platforms slowed down.

Consumer drives brought Western Digital about $2.74 billion in fiscal 2023. A year earlier, revenue in this segment was $3.7 billion. Thus, a 26 percent drop was recorded. There is a decrease in sales of hard drives, while a decrease in the price of flash memory has led to a drop in revenue from the supply of solid-state drives. Consumer devices accounted for 22% of the company's total annual revenue.

In the segment of client products, revenue decreased on an annualized basis by 39% - from $7.08 billion to $4.33 billion. Such devices accounted for 35% of Western Digital's total sales in monetary terms.

Storage shipments for cloud platforms brought in $5.25 billion in fiscal 2023 against $8.02 billion in 2022. Thus, a fall of 34% was registered. At the same time, cloud storage devices provided 43% of the company's total annual revenue. Western Digital speaks of a reduction in the supply of both hard drives and enterprise-class solid-state devices.^[1]

2021: Revenue - $16.92 billion, profit - $821 million

In fiscal 2021, Western Digital generated revenue of $16.92 billion, up 1% from a year earlier. Most of the sales came from client equipment (this includes drives supplied to PC manufacturers) - $8.26 billion, which is 15% higher than a year ago. This rise was largely due to the high demand for laptops caused by the large-scale transition to remote work.

Western Digital's annual revenue from the sale of devices and solutions for data centers amounted to $4.95 billion, which is 21% less than in fiscal 2020. In the segment of client solutions, an 11% increase in revenue was registered, up to $3.72 billion.

Western Digital shuts down losses in fiscal 2021 thanks to strong laptop demand

Western Digital ended fiscal 2021 with a net profit of $821 million, while a year earlier the company's net losses were measured at $250 million.

Western Digital noted strong demand for solid-state drives from cloud providers - the corresponding division registered revenue growth of 39%. Flash memory prices rose about 7%, confirming the continuing shortage for these products. In the HDD segment, prices are also on the rise due to strong demand for high-capacity, high-margin drives. Deliveries of enterprise-grade hard drives in terms of total capacity reached a record 104 Ebytes, which, as noted in the company, indicates the growing importance of such equipment for data centers. 18TB HDDs account for approximately half of Western Digital's enterprise drive shipments.

It also follows from the financial report that by the beginning of July 2021, cash and its equivalents in the amount of $3.4 billion had accumulated in Western Digital accounts. Free cash flow reached $792 million.^[2]

History

2023

Split into two companies

On October 30, 2023, drive maker Western Digital announced a split into two independent public companies. This is expected to help improve financial performance and strengthen the market position.

It is reported that one of the structures will focus on hard drives, while the second will release products based on flash memory. The decision to split the business comes after a thorough assessment of a wide range of alternatives, it said. Western Digital came to the conclusion that to ensure long-term success, allocating flash memory operations to an independent company is the best option. Lawyers from Qatalyst Partners, Lazard, JP Morgan, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP were involved in the strategic analysis. Western Digital's board of directors unanimously approved the plan to split operations. The completion of the procedure is scheduled for the second half of the 2024 calendar year.

Western Digital announces split into two independent public companies

Our hard drive and flash drive divisions are well positioned to capitalize on the significant dynamics of the storage market. As individual companies, they will be able to make the most of their resources. Importantly, the breakup will create significant value for Western Digital shareholders, says David Heckeler, CEO of Western Digital.

However, the company incurs significant losses. According to the results of the first quarter of fiscal 2024, which was closed on September 29, 2023, Western Digital showed net losses of $685 million, or $2.17 per share. For comparison, a year earlier, the company showed a net profit of $27 million, or $0.08 per security. At the same time, quarterly revenue decreased by a quarter on an annualized basis - from $3.74 billion to $2.75 billion.^[3]

Fully healthy hard drives after 3 years notify users of a breakdown

In mid-June 2023, Western Digital was once again suspected of using dubious methods to increase sales of its products. Fully serviceable hard drives after 3 years notify users of a breakdown or serious malfunction. Read more here.

Confirmation of IT hacking and business disruption due to this

On April 3, 2023, Western Digital announced that its information infrastructure had been hacked. Unknown attackers committed a cyber attack, as a result of which some Western Digital systems were damaged, and certain business operations were disrupted.

Details about the incident were not disclosed, so it is not clear what tools cybercriminals used. There is a possibility that the invasion was carried out using a ransomware program. It is emphasized that hackers were able to steal certain data from Western Digital's internal IT systems. The company said the hack could lead to further disruption to services as individual network resources are affected.

Hackers were able to steal certain data from Western Digital's internal IT systems

One of the services that suffered due to the attack is the WD My Cloud Home storage. Some users report on Twitter that this platform has been down for several days.

The WD My Cloud Home login service is not available. Thank you @ westerndigital for denying me access to my data, 'one Western Digital customer wrote.

Other users confirm that the# WesternDigital# mycloud# login tool does not work, and it is not possible to open the stored files. It is reported that information security specialists, as well as law enforcement agencies, were involved in the investigation of the incident.

The unauthorized party has received certain information from our systems, and Western Digital is working to understand the nature and volume of the stolen data. Currently, Western Digital has experienced malfunctions in the following products: My Cloud, My Cloud Home, My Cloud Home Duo, My Cloud OS5, SanDisk ibi, SanDisk Ixpand Wireless Charger. We are working to restore the service. We apologize for the inconvenience caused, "the company said in a statement.[4]

2020

Losses remain despite increased sales of data center products

In the 2020 fiscal year, which ended for Western Digital in early July 2020 calendar, the total sales of products and services of the company reached $16.74 billion, which is about 1% more than a year earlier.

This growth, albeit small, was due to the supply of equipment and solutions for data centers, which jumped 24% year-on-year to $6.23 billion. Other product areas in the manufacturer's assortment. Thus, the implementation of client solutions in the 2020 reporting year sank by 3% (to $3.35 billion), and shipments of client equipment (mainly consumer hard drives) decreased even more - by 12% to $7.16 billion.

The company noted a decline in HDD sales for laptops and desktops and attributed this to a shift in market demand towards solid state drives (SSDs).

Western Digital's rise in technology business for data centers has been linked to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, which has spurred demand for cloud tools for work and learning from home. Also, the American vendor reported a double increase in sales of enterprise-class solid-state drives.

In fiscal 2020, the company delivered 106 million hard drives with an average drive cost of $83.5. Revenue from HDD sales for the year turned out to be $8.97 billion, which is less than a year ago.

Western Digital ended the 12-month period ending July 3, 2020 calendar year with net losses of $250 million. Compared to the previous year, net cash losses decreased by more than three times.

Shares of Western Digital fell 12% in price after the release of the annual accounts. Quotes sank due to a weak forecast for income, which did not reach market expectations.^[5]

David Heckeler is the new CEO of Western Digital

On March 5, 2020, Western Digital announced the appointment of David Heckeler as the new CEO. He will officially lead the company on March 9, succeeding Steve Milligan at the top post. Read more here.

Selling the ActiveScale Array Business

On February 3, 2020, Western Digital, after leaving the DSS market, announced the sale of its ActiveScale cloud storage business. Quantum Corportaion buys the related assets. The financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed. It is only known that it is planned to close the deal by the end of March 2020.

Quantum says that the acquisition of the ActiveScale solutions business will have little or no impact on initial financial results - the maximum will be a slight increase.

Western Digital after leaving the DSS market announced the sale of its business related to the release of cloud storage of ActiveScale objects

Western Digital promises to maintain ongoing support for customers using ActiveScale products, and the new business owner intends to actively invest in its development.

Western Digital ActiveScale includes object storage of unstructured data (starting from 500 TB usable capacity to several dozen petabytes in a single namespace), which optimizes storage utilization in mixed-load environments.

The devices are designed for large companies and high-load data centers, in which large amounts of data are processed daily. The equipment has found applications in a variety of fields such as media and entertainment, genomics and life sciences, self-driving vehicle research and university research, the press release said.

It also states that Quantum has long been engaged in object storage, and for more than 5 years the company has been selling and supporting ActiveScale solutions.

This acquisition demonstrates Quantum's commitment to innovation and growth. It also strengthens the company's leadership role in storing and managing video and unstructured data using a software approach, Quantum said.

After the announcement of the sale of ActiveScale, Western Digital shares rose 1%.^[6]

2019

Leaving the Data Center DSS Market

On September 19, 2019, Western Digital announced the sale of its data center storage business. We are talking about IntelliFlash solutions, the rights to which were transferred to DDN, a company specializing in the development of artificial intelligence technologies and cloud data management.

The financial component of the transaction, which is planned to be closed before the end of 2019, remained confidential. The terms of the agreement also stipulate that DDN will increase purchases of solid state drives (SSDs) and hard drives (HDDs ) from Western Digital.

Western Digital announced the sale of its data center storage business

By selling its IntelliFlash-related business, Western Digital will focus its data center technology portfolio on storage platforms that include OpenFlex solutions and fabric-based data center storage technologies.

The company also intends to get rid of the ActiveScale scalable cloud storage business. By September 19, 2019, Western Digital is considering "strategic options" and has not yet finally decided what to do with these products. The sale of business related to the release of IntelliFlash and ActiveScale DSS will add about 20 cents per security to the annual profit (excluding restructuring costs and other costs), the American manufacturer estimates.

Immediately after the announcement of the departure from the data center DSS market, Western Digital shares rose in price by more than 2%, MarketWatch notes.

Experts consider it a surprise that Western Digital refused to develop storage for data centers. The IntelliFlash product line went to the vendor along with Tegile, acquired in August 2017. Apparently, this deal turned out to be a mistake, although Western Digital continued to expand the IntelliFlash range until July 2019.^[7]

Purchase of data storage technology developer for data centers Kazan Networks

In September 2019, Western Digital announced the acquisition of Kazan Networks, but did not name how much the company cost this deal. At the time of the sale, Kazan Networks raised a total of $4.5 million in investments, including from Western Digital. Read more here.

Morgan Stanley: Western Digital to buy in next 12 months

In early August 2019, Morgan Stanley unveiled a list of large IT companies that bank analysts believe will be "accurately bought" over the next 12 months. Among them is Western Digital. Read more here.

Net losses - $754 million; revenue - $16.57 billion

In fiscal year 2019, the end of which fell on June 28, 2019 calendar, Western Digital's revenue amounted to $16.57 billion, significantly decreasing compared to a year ago ($20.65 billion).

Sales declined due to falling demand for hard drives. During the reporting 12-month period, the company supplied 119.8 million such drives against 159.9 million in 2018 to the financial year. Revenues from HDD sales dropped to $8.75 billion, while sales of flash memory-based equipment reached $7.82 billion. The average cost of a hard drive sold by Western Digital in fiscal 2019 was $71.75.

Western Digital Financial Results

The American company ended the year with net losses of $754 million, while in 2018 there was a net profit of $675 million.

In fiscal 2019, Western Digital delivered 23.5 million drives for data centers, 55.5 million hard drives for computers and 40.8 million devices for other equipment, for example, for consumer electronics. On data center solutions, the company earned just over $5 billion for the year.

Commenting on the financial results, Western Digital CEO Steve Milligan called the 2019 reporting year "difficult," and despite this, the company took a leading position in terms of the total capacity of delivered corporate HDDs, 3D NAND flash technology and retail sales of branded products.

According to Milligan, the company sees improved conditions in the flash product market, which Western Digital believes has reached the bottom of the cycle.^[8]

On the day of the publication of the financial statements, Western Digital shares first fell by 4.8% by the close of the exchange, and then rose by more than 3% in electronic trading. Over the previous 12 months, the company's quotes sank by 23.2%.

2018: Record revenue of $20.6 billion; net income - $675 million

In fiscal 2018, Western Digital's revenue amounted to a record $20.6 billion, increasing from $19.1 billion in 2017. Net profit compared to these periods increased from $397 million to $675 million.

For the reported 12-month period ending June 29, 2018, Western Digital delivered about 159.9 million hard drives against 185 million a year earlier. The average cost of sold drives rose to $66.5.

Western Digital annual revenue exceeded $20 billion for the first time

In fiscal 2018, the company released 41.6 million HDDs for laptops. In the desktop segment, deliveries reached 35.8 million copies. The company also prepared for sale 33.9 million devices for consumer electronics. About 28 million items of data storage equipment were shipped by order of corporate clients.

By the end of June 2018, Western Digital's headcount had increased to 71,600 from 67,600 employees the year before.

Western Digital CEO Steve Milligan said he was pleased with the financial results that allow the company to "effectively navigate the dynamic market." The top manager noted the growth of business in such areas as HDD for portable devices and equipment for data centers, on the basis of which cloud services are launched.^[9]

Western Digital President and COO Mike Cordano noted that the total capacity of corporate drives that were shipped by the company jumped by more than 90%.

The vendor did not disclose sales of solid-state drives, but Steve Milligan admitted that the demand for such devices in the corporate sector "is not as good as it should be."

For a long time we focused on SSDs. We had some problems in terms of product development, "he shared.

2017: Return to revenue growth

On July 27, 2017, Western Digital released its fiscal year 2017 report. For the first time in four years, the American company's revenue grew, helped by the acquisition of SanDisk.

For the reported 12-month period ended June 30, 2017, Western Digital sales reached $19.1 billion against $13 billion a year earlier. Net profit for this period increased to $397 million from $242 million. By the end of the year, $6.5 billion of cash and cash equivalents had accumulated in the company's accounts.

Western Digital returns to revenue growth after buying SanDisk

Western Digital's revenue began to fall in 2013 and this negative trend continued for three years. In 2016, the company's revenues decreased due to the cost of acquiring the rival SanDisk for $16 billion, while initially it was about the amount of $19 billion. The value of the deal was revised due to the fact that Western Digital was unable to sell its shares (the American authorities blocked the deal) for almost $4 billion to the Chinese corporation Tsinghua Unigroup.

Commenting on the financial results, Western Digital CEO Steve Milligan said the following:

We reported strong financial results in the June quarter, ending an outstanding 2017 fiscal year and demonstrating the differentiated value we can offer as a comprehensive storage provider. Our unique platform of diverse storage technologies and profitable products have contributed to these results as we navigate more markets after purchasing SanDisk.

It follows from a Western Digital report that in fiscal 2017, the company delivered 170.7 million hard drives to the global market at an average cost of $62.3. A year earlier, HDD shipments were measured at 185 million units.^[10]

2016

Profit drop of 6 times

On July 28, 2016, Western Digital released its performance in fiscal year 2016. The hard drive maker's profit shrank nearly six-fold due to costs associated with the acquisition of U.S. rival SanDisk.

At the end of the 12-month period ended July 1, 2016, Western Digital's revenue amounted to $13 billion against $14.6 billion a year earlier. Net profit fell from $1.47 billion to $257 million, and operating profit from $1.6 billion to $481 million.

Western Digital profits drop 6x on SanDisk purchase

The fall in Western Digital's profit is due to the cost of acquiring rival SanDisk for $16 billion. It is worth noting that initially the purchase price was $3 billion higher, but the terms of the deal were revised after Western Digital was unable to sell its shares for almost $4 billion to the Chinese corporation Tsinghua Unigroup.

According to The Wall Street Journal, citing Western Digital CEO Steve Milligan, his company, after buying SanDisk, will be able to strengthen its position in the markets for data centers, client devices and solutions.

In addition to the increased costs, the falling demand for hard drives is having a negative impact on Western Digital's financial performance. In 2016, the company released less than 185 million HDDs against 229 million a year earlier.

After the publication of the financial statements, Western Digital fell 2.3% during additional trading after the exchange closed on July 28, 2016.^[11]

Chinese banned from buying stake in WD

In February 2016, the US authorities banned Western Digital from selling part of the business to Chinese investors for $3.8 billion. The hard drive maker intended to use this money to take over SanDisk, and now this deal is in jeopardy.

According to the publication The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) , citing a statement by Western Digital, USA the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) has notified of its intention to verify the sale of a 15% stake in Western Digital to a company Unisplendour part of the Chinese state corporation Tsinghua Unigroup. During the investigation, the companies were given a 15-day period during which each of them could opt out of the deal. At Unisplendour they did.

US authorities ban Western Digital from selling part of the business to Chinese investors for $3.8 billion

According to WSJ sources, Unisplendour was strongly interested in not buying a stake in Western Digital due to the fall in the latter's quotes. At the end of September 2015, when the sale of the American vendor was announced, $3.8 billion was equivalent to $92.5 per security of Western Digital, which at that time was 30% more than their market value. By the close of the exchange on February 24, 2016, Western Digital shares fell to $44.

According to Zhao Weiguo, chairman of the board of directors of Tsinghua Unigroup, he felt that investing in Western Digital was unprofitable for the investors of both companies. The day before Unisplendour's withdrawal from the deal, Alken Asset Management (one of Western Digital's largest shareholders) called on the HDD maker to abandon the purchase of SanDisk because of its high cost.

Having lost its Chinese investment, Western Digital did not abandon the merger with SanDisk, but the terms of the deal were revised. Western Digital offered SanDisk less cash, but more of its shares, which is less profitable for the latter: due to a decrease in the value of Western Digital securities, the total transaction price was reduced from $19 billion to $16 billion. The reaction of SanDisk owners to the new proposal was not known at the time of publication of the material.^[12]

2015

PC market slump hits Western Digital revenues

On July 29, 2015, Western Digital published a report on its performance in fiscal year 2015. The company's revenues decreased due to weak demand for personal computers for which the vendor's products are intended.

According to the results of the 12-month period closed on July 3, 2015, Western Digital's revenue amounted to $14.6 billion against $15.1 billion a year earlier. Net profit fell from $1.6 billion to $1.5 billion, and operating profit from $1.8 billion to $1.6 billion.

In fiscal 2015, Western Digital's cash flow reached $2.2 billion, and $1.4 billion was spent on dividends and share buybacks.

Western Digital earnings lower on weak demand for personal computers

"I am pleased with our performance in the fiscal fourth quarter amid a weak computer market," comments Western Digital President and CEO Steve Milligan. - Our financial performance reflects our strong position in terms of products and technology, as well as well done work. We remain positive about realizing the potential for long-term value creation in the evolving storage ecosystem. "

Western Digital is in financial decline due to a downturn in the global computer industry. According to IDC analysts, in April-June 2015, global PC shipments fell by 6.7% on an annualized basis, reaching 68.5 million units, the worst result for the market in the previous six years.

In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, Western Digital released the smallest number of hard drives in the last three years - 48.5 million. For the entire reporting year, HDD supplies from the company amounted to about 229 million units against 249 million devices a year earlier. The total capacity of the drives shipped over the year reached 248.7 Ebait, while in 2014, this figure was measured by 214.7 Ebait.

It also follows from the Western Digital report that in fiscal 2015, the company's revenue from sales of enterprise-class solid-state drives amounted to $811 million, compared to $508 million a year earlier.^[13]

Western Digital buys SanDisk for $19 billion

On October 21, 2015, Western Digital officially announced the purchase of memory chip and flash drive manufacturer SanDisk for $19 billion.

Under the terms of the agreement, SanDisk shareholders will receive $86.5 per security they own ($85.1 in cash and 0.0176 in Western Digital ordinary shares). On the eve of the announcement of the transaction, the value of one share of the sold company at the time of the closing of the exchange in New York amounted to $75.19, which corresponded to a market capitalization of $15.4 billion.

On October 21, 2015, when the deal was announced, during trading before the opening of the exchange session, SanDisk shares rose by 4.6% compared to the previous day - to $78.62. Western Digital, by contrast, fell 3.8%. From the beginning of 2015 until the announcement of a major takeover, the cost of the business of the American hard drive manufacturer decreased by a third.

Western Digital to Pay SanDisk 15% More Exchange Value of Takeover Company Ahead of Deal Announcement

The combined company, headed by Western Digital CEO Steve Milligan, will be based at the buyer's headquarters in Irvine, California, USA. SanDisk president Sanjay Mehrotra will join the board of directors of Western Digital.

"The combined company will be ideally positioned to take advantage of the growth opportunities created by the booming storage technology industry," Milligan stated.

Management of Western Digital expects that the takeover of SanDisk will begin to make a profit within 12 months after the closing of the transaction, and will also provide annual synergy of $500 million in 1.5 years. Until the purchase is completed, Western Digital intends to continue paying quarterly dividends, but the share buyback program will be suspended.

To finance this transaction, it is planned to use an investment of $3.8 billion from the Chinese state concern Tsinghua University, which received a 15% stake in Western Digital in exchange. If the vendor changes his mind with the purchase of SanDisk, he will have to pay compensation in cash of $67.5 and his shares of 0.2387 per SanDisk security.^[14]

Plan to sell 15% of shares to Chinese investors

At the end of September 2015, plans were announced to sell a large stake in Western Digital to Chinese investors. However, there was no certainty that American regulators would approve the deal because of concerns for national security.

Unisplendour, owned by the Chinese state corporation Tsinghua Unigroup, announced the purchase of a 15 percent stake in Western Digital for $3.78 billion. Under the terms of the agreement, the hard drive manufacturer will issue new shares and sell them at a price of $92.5 apiece, which is a third more than their exchange value as of September 29, 2015.

A large stake in Western Digital went to Chinese investors

After reporting a deal with Chinese investors, Western Digital jumped 14% to $78.65. Up to this point, the company's shares have fallen 38% since the beginning of 2015, which is due to weak HDD sales amid a downturn in the computer industry.

Unisplendour will be able to nominate one of its representatives for membership on the board of directors of Western Digital. The Chinese company will lose this right if its share in the American vendor falls below 10%. As of the end of September 30, 2015, the board of Western Digital includes nine people.

The deal between Western Digital and Unisplendour is scheduled to close in the first quarter of 2016. Thanks to it, the manufacturer of PC hard drives will be able to take new steps to expand its business, said Steve Milligan, President and CEO of the company. By July 2015, $5 billion in cash had accumulated in Western Digital accounts.

The deal between Unisplendour and Western Digital will definitely be interested in the US Foreign Investment Committee (CFIUS), which will check it for a threat to national security. Steve Milligan assures that there is no connection between the deal and regulatory issues. Cooperation with Tsinghua should help Western Digital attract more Chinese customers - at least the company hopes so, its head said.

Tsinghua is an attractive partner for American companies. In May 2015, she bought 51% in HP's Chinese network equipment business, and in 2014 she sold a quarter of her semiconductor business to Intel for $1.5 billion.^[15]

2013: Revenue growth to $15.4 billion

Western Digital announced that its revenue reached $15.4 billion in fiscal year 2013 and net income of $1.7 billion, or $6.75 per share. Net income in fiscal 2013 reached $2.1 billion, or $8.53 per share.

In the fiscal fourth quarter ended June 28, 2013, WD reported revenue of $3.7 billion. Hard drive shipments reached 59.9 million and net income was $416 million, or $1.71 per share. At the same time, net income is $477 million, or $1.96 per share. In the same quarter of the previous year, the company's revenue reached $4.8 billion, net income - $745 million or $2.87 per share; 71.0 million hard drives were delivered during this period. Net income was $872 million, or $3.35 per share.

The volume of cash from core activities in the IV quarter is $684 million, and the total amount of cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting quarter is $4.3 billion. In fiscal 2013, cash receipts totaled $3.1 billion and total free cash flow reached $2.2 billion. In this quarter, the company spent $235 million to repurchase 4.4 million of its ordinary shares. On May 15, dividends were announced in the amount of $0.25 per ordinary share, which were paid on July 15.

2012: Revenue growth 31% to $12.5 billion

In fiscal 2012, revenue was $12.5 billion and net income was $1.6 billion, or $5.58 per share. Net income in fiscal 2012 was $2.1 billion, or $8.61 per share.

"Fiscal 2012 has become one of the most difficult and simultaneously exciting periods in the history of the company in its 42 years of existence," said John Coyne, CEO of WD. - "Even though we experienced the effects of two natural disasters and completed the largest takeover in our industry, we managed to increase revenue by 31 percent and more than double revenue per share.

2011: Hitachi GST Company Purchase

In March 2011, Western Digital and Hitachi announced the signing of a final agreement providing for the acquisition by WD of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST), a fully controlled division of Hitachi, Ltd. The total amount of this transaction, paid for both in cash and in shares, is approximately $4.3 billion. As a result of this merger, a storage company will be created, aimed at meeting the needs of customers and having a very wide scale of activity, a global team of highly qualified workers and the largest product family in the industry, created on the basis of a significant and diverse baggage of technical developments.

2010: World No. 1 by number of hard drives sold

For fiscal 2010, the company's income amounted to $9.8 billion, and net profit of $1.4 billion. For 2010, WD's revenue increased by 32% and operating profit increased by 194%. Over the fiscal year, 194.4 million drives were shipped to consumers, which puts WD in first place in the world in terms of the number of disks sold.

The 2010 report included expenses of $14 million spent on the integration of the acquired SiliconSystems, Inc., $112 million spent on restructuring the company, with tax refunds of $4 million, and income of $18 million from the sale of the substrate plant.

2004: Opening an office in Russia

The Russian representative office of WD was opened in 2004 - Western Digital (Yu-Kay) Western Digital

1970: Founding of the company

WD was founded in 1970.

Notes