Western Digital® Appoints Mark Long As Executive Vice President Of Strategy And Corporate Development

IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 27, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Western Digital^® Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC) today announced that Mark Long has been named executive vice president of strategy and corporate development. Long has an extensive background in corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and investment banking. He will oversee Western Digital's strategic planning and be responsible for the company's corporate development activities. Long will also lead Western Digital Capital, a strategic investment fund targeting innovative companies within the broader storage industry and related markets aligned to Western Digital's strategic plan.

"Mark is an excellent addition to the Western Digital senior leadership team," said Steve Milligan, president and chief executive officer, Western Digital. "He brings tremendous strategic and operational ability to this role, including an extensive background in mergers and acquisitions. He will focus on executing our growth strategy and capitalizing on the many opportunities present in today's dynamic storage industry."

Long was most recently senior vice president, strategy and corporate development at Hitachi GST, which was acquired by Western Digital in March 2012. He previously served as managing director of VisionPoint Capital, where he provided merger and acquisition and corporate finance services to a range of technology companies, including Fabrik, Inc., which was acquired by Hitachi GST in April 2009. In addition, Long has served as a senior executive with both public and private venture-backed technology companies and has been an investment banker with Credit Suisse First Boston and Deutsche Bank Securities. Long began his career as a corporate lawyer with Gunderson Dettmer, a leading law firm in California's Silicon Valley. He earned both a J.D. and MBA from the University of Michigan.

Long will report to Western Digital president and CEO, Steve Milligan.

About Western Digital

Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ: WDC), Irvine, Calif., is a global provider of products and services that empower people to create, manage, experience and preserve digital content. Its companies design and manufacture storage devices, networking equipment and home entertainment products under the WD, HGST and G-Technology brands. Visit the Investor section of the company's website (www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of financial and investor information.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include statements concerning the company's strategic growth activities and opportunities in the storage industry. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, including the impact of continued uncertainty and volatility in global economic conditions; supply and demand conditions in the hard drive industry; uncertainties concerning the availability and cost of commodity materials and specialized product components; actions by competitors; unexpected advances in competing technologies; uncertainties related to the development and introduction of products based on new technologies and expansion into new data storage markets; business conditions and growth in the various hard drive markets; pricing trends and fluctuations in average selling prices; and other risks and uncertainties listed in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including the company's recent Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on Feb. 1, 2013, to which your attention is directed. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof, and the company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

Western Digital, WD and the WD logo are registered trademarks in the U.S. and other countries. Other marks may be mentioned herein that belong to other companies.

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SOURCE Western Digital Corp.