All SGI comrades,
The following is from New York Times this morning
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE Story 1 Page 1 of 2
01:23 Silicon Graphics May Buy Cray
By JOHN MARKOFF
c.1996 N.Y. Times News Service
SAN FRANCISCO - Silicon Graphics Inc. said late on Friday it planned to
meet with analysts and hold a press conference on Monday morning in New York
to make a ``major strategic announcement.''
The company would not comment on the nature of the announcement, but people
familiar with the Silicon Valley computer maker said it was planning to buy
supercomputer maker Cray Research. Executives of Silicon Graphics and the Cray
Research Corp. said they would not comment on the reports.
Trading in Silicon Graphics's stock was halted on the Pacific Stock
Exchange after the announcement and was made unavailable for late trading. The
shares ended trading at $27.50, down 25 cents.
``I can see some strategic sense to acquiring Cray, but the integration
issues would be horrible,'' Douglas Van Dorsten, a computer industry analyst
at Hambrecht & Quist, an investment firm, said.
Silicon Graphics and Cray Research did have discussions about the
possibility of a merger in 1991, when Cray was being run by John Rollwagen.
But the talks broke off because Silicon Graphics technical executives believed
the design of the Cray supercomputers was rapidly becoming obsolete, according
to a person familiar with the discussions.
Cray Research, which is now headed by Phil Sampeer, a former Sun
Microsystems executive, has been struggling recently as the market for
supercomputers has been eroded by declining government sales and competition
from companies like Silicon Graphics.
Silicon Graphics has lagged the market recently as the Internet has
exploded and companies like Sun Microsystems have raced ahead.
01:23 EST FEBRUARY 24, 1996
Your comments are appreciated.
Liao |
