Zenith Electronics Corp., the last U.S.-owned television maker, will be acquired by South Korea's L.G. Electronics, formerly Goldstar Co., for $350 million, the companies said Monday.
The deal means Zenith has lost its long struggle to remain independent.LGE will pay $10 a share for 16.6 million newly issued shares of Zenith common stock and 18.6 million existing shares. LGE now owns 1.45 million shares, or less than 5 percent of Zenith common stock.
When the deal is complete, LGE will own 57.7 percent of the outstanding common stock of Zenith Electronics Corp.
The 77-year-old Zenith had recovered from sharp declines in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when international competitors, chiefly from Japan, came to dominate the U.S. market.
Sales in recent years held steady in a fast-growing market, but the company lost money.
Since 1993, it had moved much of its assembly operations from Springfield, Mo., to Reynosa, Mexico. In May, Zenith announced it was cutting its U.S. work force by 10 percent, 200 employees, and taking a $9 million charge against second-quarter earnings.
John Koo, president of LGE, said his company has a "great admiration of the Zenith brand name and believes that its value can be utilized in markets worldwide."