SanDisk Acquires Enterprise Storage Player Pliant; Shares Soar

SanDisk, the flash memory producer, said today it will spend $327 million to acquire Pliant, a developer of flash-memory-based storage products for use in corporate computer systems. Shares in the company rose by $1.63, or more than 3.5 percent, to $48.13 on word of the deal, despite the fact that SanDisk said one-time items related to the acquisition will reduce its per-share earnings by as much as 3 percent in its fiscal year 2011.