Western Digital to buy Hitachi's hard drive unit

    SAN FRANCISCO, March 7 (Xinhua) -- The world's leading hard rive producer Western Digital Corp. on Monday announced that it has agreed to buy Hitachi Ltd.'s hard disk drive unit for about 4. 3 billion U.S. dollars, a move that will create a dominant¹ player in the industry.
    Western Digital said that it plans to acquire Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd., in cash and stock.
    The proposed combination（结合组合） will result in a customer-focused storage company with the industry's broadest product lineup backed by a rich technology portfolio², Western Digital said.
    According to their agreement, the resulting company will retain the Western Digital name and remain headquartered in Irvine in the U.S. state of California.
    The transaction has been approved by the board of directors of each company and is expected to close during the third quarter of 2011.
    With the purchase, Western Digital will claim 49.6 percent share of global hard disk drive unit shipments based on latest quarterly statistics, compared to 29.4 percent for Seagate Technology LLC, the industry's No. 2 supplier, research firm iSuppli pointed³ out.
    The deal will give Western Digital a lead of 20.2 percentage points over Seagate, up from a mere⁴ 2 points without the acquisition, iSuppli said in a research note released Monday.
    The acquisition will also allow Western Digital to enter the critical enterprise hard disk drive segment, where it currently is only a marginal player.
    Analysts⁵ believed that the purchase might be a consequence of declining hard disk drive shipments, which are being impacted by the rising sales of tablet computers, which don't use hard disk drives and are cutting into the sales of mobile PCs, a major market for hard drives.
    "Amid weaker industry conditions, organic sales growth is more difficult to achieve, prompting hard disk drive suppliers to engage in acquisitions to gain market share," iSuppli noted⁶.（本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑）

1 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

2 portfolio   

n.公事包；文件夹；大臣及部长职位

参考例句：

• He remembered her because she was carrying a large portfolio.他因为她带着一个大公文包而记住了她。
• He resigned his portfolio.他辞去了大臣职务。

3 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

4 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

5 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。