Western Digital has Separated into Two Independent Companies

## 📌 Timeline of the Separation

* **October 30, 2023**: Western Digital’s board approved a plan to form two independent, public companies—one for HDDs and another for flash/NAND (Flash) ([westerndigital.com][1]).

* **March 5, 2024**: WD confirmed that all necessary groundwork—legal entities, financial models, global support separation—was underway, aiming for a Q3/2024 close ([westerndigital.com][2]).

* **October 2024**: WD launched separate customer websites: **WD.com** for HDDs and **SanDisk.com** for flash storage products ([blocksandfiles.com][3]).

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## ✅ Completion of the Spin-off

* **February 24, 2025**: The spin-off was finalized.

* The **HDD division** retained the **Western Digital** name and the NASDAQ ticker **WDC** ([solactive.com][4], [westerndigital.com][5]).

* The **Flash business** relaunched under the heritage **Sandisk** name, trading on NASDAQ as **SNDK** ([crn.com][6]).

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## 🔍 What This Means

| Segment | Company Name | Ticker | Focus |

| ---------- | ------------------- | ------ | ------------------------------------ |

| HDDs | Western Digital | WDC | Hard drives and storage systems |

| Flash/NAND | Sandisk Corporation | SNDK | SSDs, memory cards, USB flash drives |

* At spin-off, **WD shareholders** received approximately **0.333 shares** of SNDK for each WDC share held ([investopedia.com][7], [blocksandfiles.com][3], [solactive.com][4]).

* The split reversed WD’s 2016 acquisition of SanDisk, making flash/NAND a standalone entity again ([en.wikipedia.org][8]).

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## 👍 Why It Happened

* **Strategic focus**: HDD and Flash businesses have very different market dynamics—HDDs serving enterprise, data centers, and cold storage; Flash targeting consumer, gaming, and fast-access data.

* **Unlock shareholder value**: Separate capital structures enable each company to optimize growth, investment, and debt independently .

* **Industry precedent**: The spin-off aligns with broader trends—companies like Intel, BlackBerry, Kellogg, and J\&J have also separated business units to simplify operations and improve strategic focus ([investopedia.com][9]).

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### ✅ In Summary

Yes, Western Digital is now two independent firms:

* **Western Digital (WDC)**: focused on hard disk drives.

* **Sandisk (SNDK)**: focused on flash memory products like SSDs and memory cards.

Let me know if you'd like a breakdown of stock performance, business strategies, or how this split compares to competitors!

[1]: https://www.westerndigital.com/company/newsroom/press-releases/2023/2023-10-30-western-digital-to-form-two-independent-public-companies?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Western Digital to Form Two Independent Public Companies ..."

[2]: https://www.westerndigital.com/company/newsroom/press-releases/2024/2024-03-05-western-digital-announces-update-on-company-separation?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Western Digital Announces Update on Company Separation"

[3]: https://blocksandfiles.com/2024/10/04/western-digital-websites-hdd-flash/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Western Digital opens separate websites for HDD and flash ..."

[4]: https://www.solactive.com/spin-off-western-digital-corp-24th-february-2025/?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Spin Off | WESTERN DIGITAL CORP | 24th February 2025 - Solactive"

[5]: https://www.westerndigital.com/company/newsroom/press-releases/2025/2025-02-24-western-digital-completes-planned-company-separation?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Western Digital Completes Planned Company Separation"

[6]: https://www.crn.com/news/storage/2025/western-digital-splits-in-two-as-sandisk-reemerges?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Western Digital Splits In Two As Sandisk Reemerges - CRN"

[7]: https://www.investopedia.com/s-and-p-500-gains-and-losses-today-western-digital-shares-soar-amid-spinoff-plan-8384641?utm_source=chatgpt.com "S&P 500 Gains and Losses Today: Western Digital Shares Soar Amid Spinoff Plan"

[8]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandisk?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Sandisk"

[9]: https://www.investopedia.com/western-digital-shares-soar-company-splits-off-flash-memory-business-8384368?utm_source=chatgpt.com "Western Digital Shares Soar as Company Splits Off Flash Memory Business"