Ricoh has reached an agreement to buy MindShift Technologies, a provider of managed IT, cloud, data center and professional services to small and mid-sized organizations, from Best Buy. The acquisition is the latest strategic investment by Ricoh to expand and deepen its services portfolio.
According to news reports, in 2011, Best Buy purchased MindShift for $167m. However, over the past year it has been selling non-core assets including the sale of its 50 per cent stake in Best Buy Europe, to Carphone Warehouse. The company also exited its venture capital business, Best Buy Capital in 2012. Best Buy Canada also announced this week that they are laying off 950 people at its Future Shop and Best Buy retail stores after being hurt by intense competition during the important holiday sales period, according to Canada online news site, CBC News.
Online competitors such as Amazon and retail store competitors such as Wal-Mart have cut into sales of electronics in Canada.
MindShift works with more than 6,900 clients in major markets throughout the US. The Ricoh acquisition will enable the company to expand service offerings as well as support Ricoh’s growth as a provider of IT Services.
“With the addition of these highly skilled engineering and customer-facing resources to our existing services organization, Ricoh can now offer a greatly enhanced range of services for its customers,” said Martin Brodigan, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Ricoh Americas Corporation. “We are very much looking forward to working with our small and medium-sized customers to maximize these combined capabilities to their greatest benefit.”
MinShift will continue to operate under its current name, management team and capabilities, which currently include 650 employees at offices in Boston, Chicago, Long Island, N.Y., Minneapolis, Morrisville, N.C., New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Austin, Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas, TX.
The acquisition is expected to close in February 2014 at which time mindSHIFT will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Ricoh.