HP buys Samsung's printer business to expand in corporate market

HP is looking to take a bigger portion of the corporate printer market with its recently announced acquisition of Samsung's printer business. Samsung has focused on high-volume printers, making them best suited for office environments. It is well known that the consumer printer market has not done so well in recent years due to increasing digitization and technology such as tablets, but the overall market has largely sustained on corporate clients. HP makes most of its profit from ink and toner cartridges, according to the Wall Street Journal, but it has recently been facing declining sales in this area. Revenue from ink and toner declined 18 percent in the third quarter.

HP is perhaps best known for its consumer-facing products, but it is now using printer market consolidation to bolster its position in the corporate market. The company is doing this by focusing on A3 printing, in which HP has struggled but Samsung is successful. Another big part of the deal for HP is now owning the printer engine it used to license for laser printers.

HP is already doing well in the business printing market. It has about two-thirds of the large format printer market, according to IDC. HP also leads the market generally, beating out Canon, Seiko Epson, Brother and Sony. Sony is in fifth place with about 4 percent of the market, which will become part of HP's market share provided regulators approve the acquisition.

This latest acquisition is further proof that the business printer market continues to be a healthy area to target. Printing needs are not going away in corporate environments, even if revenue tends to fluctuate. Inkjet printers are still wanted, but HP is now trying to capture more revenue from laser printers as well. There are likely new opportunities in the latter, although in this case, HP is attempting to get more profit by owning the supply chain.