Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: dd who wrote (4426)	2/19/1998 7:58:00 PM
From: Mang Cheng	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 14451

"New CEO Shares His Vision For Silicon Graphics" (02/19/98; 6:16 p.m. EST) By Lawrence Aragon, VARBusiness New Silicon Graphics (SGI) chief executive Rick Belluzzo this morning called himself a "focus freak" and promised to "de-emphasize or get rid of" anything that isn't part of the beleaguered company's fundamental strengths. Belluzzo, who joined SGI Jan. 23, gave his first impressions of SGI to 350 SGI resellers, developers, and systems integrators via a closed television network. During his 35-minute presentation, Belluzzo promised to improve SGI's marketing, increase communications with partners and customers, and "embrace" Windows NT. It was clear from the start that Belluzzo -- who spent 22 years at buttoned-down Hewlett-Packard -- was in an entirely new world. Just before his introduction, the company ran a joke video in which passersby along the streets of San Francisco were asked who Belluzzo was. Some of the responses: "A world-renowned sumo wrestler," "one of the founders of the [San Francisco] wharf area," and "one of those Mafia guys." Belluzzo, 44, looked relaxed in an open-collared red shirt as he shared his vision with the audience and fielded questions. Except for one attendee, who raised his voice about a trade magazine that ranked a Silicon Graphics system dead-last against competing NT boxes, resellers generally seemed pleased with what Belluzzo had to say. Formerly an executive vice president at Hewlett-Packard, Belluzzo said he left his job as head of the company's $35 billion Computer Organization, because he enjoyed "taking on challenges. A lot of people talk about the problems at SGI, but I see opportunities." He added that he wanted to be on the "the front lines," where he could feel like he's made a difference at the end of each day. Asked about his priorities, Belluzzo said he would focus SGI on its "two fundamental strengths -- high-bandwidth/high-performance computing" and its "strength in visualization." He has no grand scheme to topple competitors. "We can't take on every battle in the computer industry," he said. Belluzzo was critical of SGI's lack of communication to the market. "We will be intense about communication," he pledged. "We have let the trade press take the message and do what they do with it. We won't let that continue." Belluzzo was similarly critical of SGI's marketing efforts, responding to a question from a Texas VAR. "We have one of the most exciting brands in the industry, and we're not taking advantage of it," he said. "I want to pick up The Wall Street Journal every day and read about [SGI]." Queried about pricing strategies, Belluzzo noted that SGI in the past has focused on "scorch-the-earth-technology" and has not given enough consideration to competitive pricing. "We have to get our cost structures down and deliver more value," he said. That led into a discussion of NT. "In the short term, we have to respond [to NT], and in the long term we have to embrace it," he said. From his experience at HP, Belluzzo said "by having a strong NT offering, it gives you more credibility in Unix." SGI's NT system, dubbed the Visual PC, will ship in the fall and "we're going to do it at a price point that will rock the market," said Andrew Cresci, director of desktop marketing, later in the presentation. No company exec would get specific about pricing. The NT system will take SGI into new markets, such as EDA, 2-D CAD/CAM, desktop publishing, and game and Web authoring, Cresci said. A pop quiz of the audience showed that while the vast majority receive less than 10 percent of their sales from NT, the majority already sell NT systems and applications that run on both Unix and NT. techweb.com Mang

To: dd who wrote (4426)	2/20/1998 7:13:00 PM
From: brushwud	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 14451

I found the complete 10-Q at the SEC site: sec.gov It says Ed McCracken received a $3.25 million severance payment and refers to 3 million options in Rick Belluzzo's offer letter and describes an up-front payment to him of $1.25 million for an annuity and a "shortfall" payment of up to $10 million he will get if the options don't become worth that much. It was signed by an acting Chief Accounting Officer, which suggests than Dennis McBride has left the company as well as Tom Oswold. Apparently no more shares have been repurchased since last quarter, but they bought calls on 3.5 million shares.