I don't think we have even mentioned on this thread that Seagate will also get SEagate Holos, the business intelligence unit. I'm not really sure what revenues they generate right now, but their business plays right into the Internet and B2B. These stocks are crashing right now, but a new cycle will revive their values in a couple of years, I have little doubt. They also get Xiotech, for which they (we!) just paid $360 million. So, $800 million in cash, $360 million for Xiotech/SAN business, probably a couple of hundred million dollars for Holos (even at these dimished values), and a disk drive unit that is about to reassert its leadership in the high end enterprise drive segment with their 15,000 RPM drives which they will undoubtedly also use to migrate downward to the low end of the high end enterprise segment and take that back as well as the "World's Leading Personal Video Recorder Storage Supplier" (see article below) plus their currently underperforming desktop division which will undoubtedly be miraculously healed over the next year for $2 billion cash at a time when values for disk drive companies are being trashed in the open market anyway and margins and revenues are extremely low. Oh and we get the overvalued shares of Veritas, but at a discount to what we would pay if wanted to buy them in the open market, and we pay Veritas a billion dollars in cash and securites for the priviledge of participating in this.
If anyone except employees of Seagate or arbitrageurs who have somehow shorted Veritas against long positions in Seagate to lock in their small profits votes yes for this deal, they are idiots. Even the latter may be idiots given what is happening to Veritas in the marketplace, as they could cover their Veritas shorts and make much more being long Seagate.
Geez, this deal is repulsive ethically. I sure hope it is illegal somehow. Surely if a high ranking employee of the company was somehow feeding inside information on Seagate to a competitor who used it to take over the company or to diminish its competitive position, that employee would minimally be fired, and perhaps subject to some sort of legal sanction.
Seagate Is World's Leading Personal Video
Recorder Storage Supplier, Shipping Over
200,000 Disc Drives for PVR Market
Seagate's Consumer Drives Enable Viewers to Control Their Own TV Programming
SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif., April 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Seagate Technology, Inc. (NYSE: SEG - news), announced that
it has shipped more than 200,000 disc drives for Personal Video Recorder (PVR) products, affirming the Company's
leadership in this emerging market segment. Seagate U Series disc drives provide the critical technology that enables
PVRs to pause, rewind and play back live TV programming. PVRs let viewers personalize their TV experience by
automatically recording favorite programming to be viewed when, where and how they want it. Viewers can also
immediately jump to any point between or within shows without the usual search time delay of tape- and cassette-based
systems.
``Seagate is the clear leader in the PVR storage market, and continues to strengthen its substantial lead in the consumer
electronics storage market overall. Seagate's shipment of more than 200,000 drives into PVR boxes far exceeds the
shipments of all other storage vendors combined,' said Mark Geenen, president at TrendFocus, a leading data storage
market research firm. ``Just as computer manufacturers looked to Seagate products to help them create the entry-level
PC market, consumers have made it clear that Seagate is delivering the best combination of A/V performance, value,
product availability, and environmental features such as acoustics, operating temperature, and reliability. This is an
important milestone, both for Seagate and for the growth of the PVR market.'
Seagate has long been the recognized leader for digital audio/video storage in the world of film, broadcasting and video.
Seagate's ability to leverage that leading expertise from content producer to content consumer has enabled the Company
to drive that leadership into the consumer electronics marketplace.
Seagate consumer electronics disc drives are engineered to provide the sustained data transfer rates required of A/V
electronics, and focus on the key features that enable hard drive-based home electronics, such as lowered acoustics,
reduced power consumption and longer life. Seagate's Consumer Applications Lab, with world-class expertise in system
architectures, A/V recording, home networking and satellite and cable communications, provides strategic direction in
the development of disc drives that are optimized for consumer applications.
Combined with the Company's expertise in A/V storage technology, Seagate offers an unparalleled combination of
specific services to help Consumer Electronics providers use today's advanced storage technology to design and build
tomorrow's entertainment devices.
``Our success in the PVR market is a result of Seagate's commitment to our customers in the Consumer Electronics
market as a whole,' said Steve Luczo, Seagate president and CEO. ``We've maintained a strong focus on these
customers since Seagate first established the Consumer Electronics storage market three years ago. Seagate's
combination of products, value-added services and continued innovation have given us a strong, early lead in this
market.
``We are particularly pleased that our advanced testing and integration services have led the Consumer Electronics
market to choose Seagate over any other storage solution,' said Luczo. ``Since many of our Consumer Electronics
customers are unfamiliar with hard disc drive technology, we offer them a combination of services to design and build
the best product possible. We team up with our customers from start to finish, helping with the product design, assuring
that the product is reliable and proven compatible over time, even helping them design the shipping package to protect
the device. Many customers who are now qualifying projects with us are telling us that these services are one-of-a-kind
in the storage industry.'
Seagate is the world's leading supplier of disc storage for Consumer Electronics. Seagate shipped the world's first
Consumer Electronics disc drive in 1997 and has led in the development and integration of PVR functionality in storage
devices. The Company is currently shipping its fifth generation of products for consumer devices, and continues to
develop storage technologies with leading Consumer Electronics makers to accelerate the future of home entertainment.
Seagate Technology, Inc. is a leading provider of technology and products enabling people to store, access, and manage
information. The Company is committed to providing best-in-class products to help people get information when, where
and how they want it. Seagate is the world's largest manufacturer of disc drives, magnetic discs and read-write heads, an
innovator in tape drives, and a leading developer of Enterprise Information Management software. Seagate can be found
around the globe and at seagate.com. For automated news, stock and financial information by phone, dial
toll-free 877-SEG-NYSE. Outside the U.S. and Canada, dial 760-704-4368.
NOTE: Seagate and Seagate Technology are registered trademarks of Seagate Technology, Inc. All trademarks are the
property of their respective owners.
SOURCE: Seagate Technology, Inc. |
