Mass hard drive manufacturer "Seagate" have made headlines today with word spreading of their big move to have purchased "Maxtor" (the third largest hard disk manufacturer in the world) for a smidgeon under 2 billion dollars.

All the details over at Hexus folks.

Following on from reports earlier this morning, Seagate and Maxtor have issued a joint press release confirming that Seagate will be acquiring Maxtor.

The all stock transaction will see Seagate acquire all of Maxtor, with Maxtor shareholders receiving .37 shares in Seagate for every Maxtor share they own. The $1.9bn transaction has been approved unanimously by the boards of both companies.

The two companies will continue to operate as individual entities until some time in the second half of 2006. Once the deal comes to a close the two companies will become a combined company.