This was pretty interesting to see, as we'd worked with Sanyo for 15 years while they were here in San Diego.

Panasonic announced Friday it plans to acquire Sanyo Electric in a deal valued at 800 million yen ($8.9 billion), giving the electronics giant a leg up in the rechargeable-battery business.

I feel that rechargeable batteries are going to be one of the biggest bedrock industries in the world in upcoming decades, and as Sanyo is the worldwide leader in Li-Ions, that makes sense for Panasonic. And any time two leading companies merge it's pretty interesting. Panasonic seems especially interested in the HEV market, which is going to do nothing but grow in the future.
Of course, they'll grow faster if recent changes in consumer behavior (less gas consumption, more public transit, more interest in alternative energy sources) become entrenched. Should be an interesting next few years for Panasonic if this deal goes through.