It’s Official. After much speculation, Panasonic has bought up rival Sanyo to make it the biggest electronics company in Japan. Nikkei is reporting the companies have come to an agreement and the sale should be completed by April of next year. The end result will be a mega-corporation with revenues of over ¥11.2 trillion (around $1.1 billion.)

Panasonic promises Sanyo will not be disappearing as a brand and that most of their employees will remain intact.

Electronics giants Panasonic and Sanyo Electric have begun engaging in preliminary acquisition talks. According to an unnamed Panasonic official, the company is already in talks with Goldman Sachs, Daiwa Securities SMBC and Sumimoto Mitsui Banking about buying up a controlling stake in its smaller rival. The talks are in the preliminary stages, so price is not yet on the table. That same official does say they expect Panasonic to issue a formal acquisition proposal soon.

Mitsubishi Kagaku Media (Verbatim) has bought out SmartDisk’s external hard drive and digital imaging business — including patents and engineering expertise.

Time will tell if this benefits the consumer.