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EWING, N.J. - Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:OLED) announced Thursday it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire OLED patent assets from Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany. The portfolio includes more than 300 issued and pending patents worldwide, covering over 110 unique patent families in advanced OLED emissive device structures and related material components. The $6.4 billion market cap company enters this acquisition from a position of financial strength, with a current ratio of 8.05 and virtually no debt, according to InvestingPro data.
The patents, which have an average remaining lifetime of approximately 10 years, are expected to expand Universal Display’s patent coverage across key emissive building blocks that enable high-efficiency OLED devices.
The transaction will be executed between UDC Ireland Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Universal Display, and Merck Electronics KGaA. The closing is expected in January 2026, subject to customary conditions.
"These assets from Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany are expected to complement our world-class R&D and materials discovery and design platforms as we continue to support the growing OLED market," said Steven V. Abramson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Universal Display Corporation.
For Merck KGaA, the deal aligns with its strategy to focus on charge transport and triplet host materials, which boost the performance of components surrounding emissive materials in OLED devices.
Johannes Canisius, General Manager of the OLED business at Merck KGaA, said the IP package represents "a significant milestone in our innovation pipeline" and that transferring it to UDC would enable Merck to "focus fully on our core expertise in transport and host materials."
Universal Display Corporation specializes in the research, development, and commercialization of organic light emitting diode technologies and materials for display and solid-state lighting applications. The company currently owns, exclusively licenses, or has the sole right to sublicense more than 6,500 patents issued and pending worldwide, according to the press release statement.
In other recent news, Universal Display Corporation reported its earnings for the second quarter of 2025, showing a strong financial performance with increased revenue and improved margins. The company’s revenue for the quarter reached $172 million, up from $159 million in the same period last year. Net income was reported at $67 million, or $1.40 per diluted share. Additionally, Universal Display raised its full-year revenue guidance to a range of $650-$700 million. In other developments, the company’s Board of Directors approved a fourth-quarter cash dividend of $0.45 per share, payable on December 31, 2025, to shareholders of record on December 17, 2025. These recent developments highlight the company’s ongoing financial growth and shareholder returns.
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