Panasonic is looking to lay out more than $5 billion to take a controlling stake in Sanyo. What does the consumer tech giant see in the smaller, less successful company? Diversification. Panasonic has had great success in consumer tech but has no division for solar tech and only a limited stake in electric vehicle batteries. For Sanyo it’s vice versa — they’re each the other’s missing piece! How cute is that?

If the acquisition goes as planned, the Sanyo consumer tech division, which is losing money, will likely be scrapped or cannibalized. Likewise, Panasonic’s battery division will likely be rolled into the larger and more successful Sanyo one. Either way the Sanyo brand is probably on its way out. My only question is why didn’t they do this years ago?