As part of the deal, Western Digital immediately leased the campus from the new owner, Blue Owl, upon completion of the sale. https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/09/07/south-bay-milpitas-tech-real-estate-office-build-economy-buy-covid/
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space on GO campus to develop, so its sale could happen too A stand alone hdd company seems less likely to own a lot of real estate in light of c-gate dumping its buildings
@4xxq nice historical context :-) With RST, LGMT, and IRV leased, and Milpitas now sold, won't be surprise should GO be sold in the future and other development take place
“ isn't GO campus still company owned”
Yes it is.
It is a lot smaller than the old IBM site. Which included a 9 hole golf course and some houses by a small lake for visitors. It was the Cottle Road site. Had to change the name when the land adjacent to Cottle was sold. There was a bunch of land kept as orchards apparently for tax reasons. That’s gone. That shopping center, those apartments, Lowe’s, part of highway 85…all were once part of a big site.
That said, the leaseback agreement goes against the approach WD has taken since the purchase of HGST. Which is to consolidate personnel on company owned property. A lot of people moved to GO, including research. So, again, WD’s approach was to put people in company owned property.
That points to this recent sale being a desperation move.
I thought I remember reading they sold it or put it up for collateral on their loan or something...
WD has filed chapter-11 twice before. Third time won't exactly be a surprise.
It seems cash flow is dying faster than expected. Hope wdc won't be bankrupt under the current money burning on ssd. If the semiconductor downing season is a little longer, the loss on ssd will ki-l the company
@2ybu isn't GO campus still company owned
No other property to sell ! Completely screwed up company
Only WD has the brigth idea of renting this place that smells tu dump
Your post-apocalyptic comment sum’s up perfectly how things feel at Seagate as well. We are combining different groups into one office area to give the allusion of normalcy. We are now out of buildings to sell and lease back. The latest move some sort of strange special stock sale to cover bad debt obligations. Good luck to You and Families.
Move everyone to Buildings 1 and 2. 70% cubicles are empty anyways. The office has a post-apocalyptic feel these days
Well... at least they found a way to make some money with SanDisk.
life in a leased facility, welcome
1gqh+1ouc2R5U
My guess is at least $1M a month. That will make them break even after 15 years plus land on a prime bay area location.
I am curious if an investor spends $192.5M to buy the campus, how much rent should be collected in order to make sense from today’s high interest rate?
Asset light strategy is one way to improve working capital
It’ll be easier to move out once the lease expires.
I think this is a confirmation of the HDD SSD incoming split I guess it would be easier by liquidating some assets. The new SanDisk+Kioxia entity will take over the lease and WD as HDD only business moves on.
guess they like the slow burn
Great. No more layoffs!
Is it the end for WD?
$190 million is pi-s in the pond for a previously $5 billion company... but I guess you have do w.e it takes to bring up that bottom line... even selling hard assets to stall the inevitable.
That's a very good deal given our current economic hardship.