The following appears on nbcnews.com
(Reuters) – Sharp Corp, Japan’s largest display maker, has called off talks with Samsung Electronics Co Ltd to jointly set up a copier sales company, the Kyodo said.
Sharp’s decision came after other Japanese firms such as Canon Inc opposed the proposal expressing concern that key technology would fall into the hands of the South Korean technology giant, the newswire said.
The global copier market is dominated by Japanese companies like Canon, Ricoh Co Ltd, Konica Minolta Inc and Sharp. They, along with U.S’s Xerox Corp, account for about 80 percent of the global A3 copier sales, according to Kyodo.
Sharp, will however, continue talks with Samsung to supply washing machines and refrigerators to the Korean company as an original equipment manufacturer, the wire said, quoting sources.
The proposal to jointly set up a copier sales company was being discussed after Sharp turned down Samsung’s acquisition offer for the copier business, Kyodo said.