JDSU, the company formerly known as JDS Uniphase Inc., has been so successful
in diversifying beyond its troubled optical networking business that it
appears the company might exit its core specialty altogether.
Light
Reading recently reported that JDSU may be mulling such a sale so
that it can focus exclusively on
the
test and measurement gear business that it entered two years ago. The
company's May 2005 acquisition of Acterna Inc., a maker of test equipment for
the networking industry, has been so successful that in its most recent
quarter JDSU's test and measurement unit earned $221 million while its optical
product division lost $1.3 million.
As Light Reading noted, one of the biggest hurdles to completing a sale of the
optical business would be finding a buyer. It said most of the companies that
would be interested are too small to pull off such a purchase, and it
suggested that a private equity buyout might be the most likely.
Such a deal isn't necessarily imminent, but if it were to happen, it
would be one of the more impressive transformations for a company that was
once the poster child of huge and pricey acquisitions and equally huge
write-offs.—Andrea
Orr
See
Light Reading story
See
May 24, 2005, story from The Deal
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