From a strictly business perspective, I believe that IMS is far more valuable for its $15M+ NOLS that it is carrying on its books as described in recent SEC 10Q and S-1 filings (assuming they were reasonably accurate). With a market cap of less than $4M, a big (or small perhaps private) company could pick up the company for cheap and use the NOLS to pay off the cost of acquisition and then some.
And remembering that business is business, I wouldn't be surprised if the creditors settle for fractions on the dollar instead of going through a lengthy and perhaps dicey court process to collect their due.
And what about the Meta6000 and SGS Thomson? Management eyebrows should have been raised when SGS Thomson acquired a majority stake of Metaflow Technologies (www.metaflow.com) last 28 May 97. According to MDR's Microprocessor Report, a widely recognized trade newsletter for CPU processor development and trends, Metaflow is another x86 clone shop. Perhaps there were concerns but the "quiet period" prevailed. Only management can answer these questions.
And what about auctioning off IMSLIB? Until definitive design wins or sales are publicly announced, IMSLIB may be as valuable of an asset as the Meta6000. Have you seen any products with an "IMSLIB inside" logo?
And what about auctioning off IMS's vast IP portfolio? I just queried the IBM Patent Server (www.patents.ibm.com) and it shows only one issued patent (#5574927) to IMS on 12 Nov 96. Using the recent auction of Exponential's 40+ patents for something like $10M as a linear basis, one patent may fetch $250K.
So what's left to auction? We've all heard that a company's most valuable asset is its people. In a tight job market like the one here in Austin, this is particularly true. The engineers may be the company's true assets. Unfortunately, this type of asset is both hard to transfer and often highly volatile. Take a look at what happened to DEC's Strong Arm design team after DEC "sold them" to Intel. Hint: Cadence recently picked up an Austin Microprocessor Design Center for cheap.
Once again, please note that Frank is still an IMS employee, hence, his participation in these on-line discussions may be limited. I left IMS to pursue other technical opportunities.
I wish you well in your efforts to recover/protect your principal investments.
Larry |
