JVC and Kenwood to merge

Quoth Reuters:

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese electronics makers JVC (6792.T: Quote, Profile, Research) and Kenwood Corp (6765.T: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Monday they would merge under a holding company on October 1 to fight fierce price competition and growing costs of product development.

But the new entity would still fall far behind some of its rivals in size as combined sales of the two companies totaled 823.7 billion yen ($8 billion) in the year ended March 31, or less than one-tenth of Panasonic maker Matsushita's (6752.T: Quote, Profile, Research) 9 trillion yen.

JVC, Kenwood to merge under holding company [Reuters]