BOULDER, Colo., Jan. 26 (UPI) -- IBM Corp. is selling its printing division, which generated $1 billion in 2006, to Japanese copier maker Ricoh Co. for $725 million, the U.S. company says.
Ricoh will own 51 percent of the new company, which will be called the InfoPrint Solutions Co., IBM said.
The Armonk, N.Y., computer giant will initially form a joint venture with Ricoh and gradually cede the rest of the business to Ricoh by 2010, The (White Plains, N.Y.) Journal News reports.
The deal is expected to close by June.
InfoPrint will provide printing on demand and new innovations in document workflow, Ricoh said.
IBM has also signed a five-year services deal with InfoPrint that will generate $150 million in annual revenue for IBM.
InfoPrint's headquarters will be in Boulder, Colo., where IBM's printing systems division is based.
IBM is selling the business because it can no longer grow it fast enough, IBM Executive Vice President Nick Donofrio said.
Tokyo-based Ricoh, the world's largest copier maker, is a $16.4 billion business with 79,000 employees that started in 1936 as a maker of photosensitive paper.
