Quote Originally Posted by thollandpe View Post
Samsung and Sanyo are different companies based in different countries. Panasonic bought Sanyo, but there is still Sanyo-branded stuff in the marketplace.

I know their solar cells and heat pumps. While Samsung makes these too, the product lines and distribution are different.
Toshio Iue, the founder of Sanyo, played a role as an advisor to Lee Byung-Chul, Samsung's founder, who was a novice in the electronics business. In December of the same year, Samsung Electric established a joint venture named Samsung-Sanyo Electric with Sanyo and Sumitomo Corporation. This is the direct predecessor of today's Samsung Electronics.