Despite the escalating conflict between Fujifilm and Xerox, the head of the OEMs’ joint venture said their dispute “will not lead to the venture’s dissolution.”
As Reuters reports, Fuji Xerox President Kouichi Tamai is not predicting any major fall-out from the ongoing difficulties between Fujifilm and Xerox, following the withdrawal of Xerox from their proposed merger.
“I’m confident a breakup will not happen because that wouldn’t make sense (for Xerox) in terms of the energy, money and time it would take to do so,” he stated.
Xerox, which backed out of the merger in May 2018, “said it may not renew its technology agreement with Fuji Xerox” and then upped the ante by also stating that it “would start sourcing products from new vendors for sale directly to customers in Fuji Xerox’s primary Asia-Pacific market.”
Such a dispute with Xerox could provide financially troubling for Fuji Xerox, which would experience a loss in revenue of more than $1 billion (€853.8 million). However, Tamai feels it would not be beneficial for Xerox to seek out new vendors.
“That would increase costs for Xerox,” he said. “It is my responsibility to convince Xerox that it is cheaper and more reasonable to source products from us.”
“My mission is to persuade Xerox executives that the merger would be the best solution for both companies,” he concluded. “Daily interactions with them actually have given me a feeling that many at Xerox actually support the merger.”
