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Technology Stocks : CRUS, good buy? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Calvin Scott who wrote (5352)	3/17/1998 10:08:00 PM
From: richard surckla	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8193

Calvin, At the time when Canning left CRUS I had heard some behind the scene rumors that he became quite upset when Alexy had been appointed to the Office of the President position. That he (Canning) had been looking for that appointment and became so upset with Hackworth because he didn't get the appointment that he resigned. I have been told that this was a monumental error on Hackworth's part and a GREAT loss to CRUS when Canning left. If you recall I also believe that it was Canning that dumped all his shares with CRUS after his departure. All of the above is hearsay from one source or another. Can you substantiate any of it? I also heard some months back that Hack was working late hours at the company 7 days a week in an effort to correct things. While he has become the Murphy's Law Whipping Boy of CRUS we have to remember that he still has a large stake in the company that will only benefit him if there is performance. While CRUS is in a turn around situation everything in our market is turning to shit. Don't misunderstand me. There is nobody invested in this company that is more pissed off at Hack than I am. I can go back to late 95 the MM's were dumping and Hack was assuring everyone that things were just great. The problem now is the same as it has always been. . .we can't do anything but keep our fingers crossed and hope that things continue to change in a positive manner for the company. Rather pathetic wishful thinking for those who have bought at $60, $50, $40, $30, $25, $15, or anywhere in-between. One other thing that bothers me. . .>>I already am in hot water. << Back in Oct. I received a few private emails that said the same thing and you vanished for a short time. I sure hope that this is not going to be a repeat performance. I appreciate your posts.

To: Calvin Scott who wrote (5352)	3/17/1998 11:26:00 PM
From: Grand Poobah	Respond to of 8193

Calvin, thanks for your response. You had a lot of good points. I think I understand better where you're coming from now. Your assessment of the board was informative. But I don't want to get you in trouble, so if I am asking too many questions, feel free not to answer. <<As for your assessment of Hackworths' "superior personal leadership skills" all I can tell you that in a small operation you hit the nail on the head. As for a large ($1B corp) you couldn't be farther from the truth. It was the Hackman that let Bartek ruin the graphics business. It was Hackman that let Kenyon Mei do whatever he wanted in their Personal Systems Div., the very same division that introduced the V.34 chip set when Rockwell was already shipping millions of the V.56. It was Hackman that bought PCSI that never made a profit and lost $25M each year from 1993 - 1997.>> Good points. I would pretty much agree with all of them. I see why you are not so high on Hackworth running the company at this stage. I am still not sure Kelly is the best man for the CEO job, but I understand your misgivings about Hackworth at this stage. PCSI might have been a good investment if Cirrus had R&D money to burn for 5 or 10 years, but when things hit the fan, the cash drain from San Diego turned out to be too painful. <<Also, I noticed that we are hearing very little coming from the Mass Storage folks other than flat to lower units shipped. I can't remember a time when it has been so quit. In fact, there was a time when my hero, Dr. Canning was in charge of this division, that Cirrus was looking to break this group away and make it standalone. This is just a BTW statement and probably means more to those folks in the know than yourself.>> I am interested to see what the Mass Storage revenues will be when this quarter's numbers come out. They have been on a steep ramp, and I wonder how they will be affected by the disk drive industry problems and the loss of the Seagate design. I didn't think the Mass Storage division made many public announcements (except for their optical stuff) because most of the designs were proprietary one-customer chips. So no news doesn't mean a whole lot, unless you are referring to something other than published news. I agree with you completely about Mass Storage's desire to break away and be a standalone company. But I am not sure that would have been or would be such a good idea. Mass Storage has had its down times and really benefited from the fact that Graphics was booming. Mass storage is a cyclical business, and I believe it is a plus for the division that they are teamed up with Crystal and Communications when the disk drive cycle goes down. What I was referring to about the JV agreements was the following which I found in their 10-Q: "Certain provisions of the MiCRUS and Cirent Semiconductor agreements may cause the termination of the joint venture in the event of a change in control of the Company. Such provisions could have the effect of discouraging, deferring or preventing a change of control of the Company." I am not sure to what extent this is just standard legalese or to what extent it is a serious obstacle to takeover. However, I do know that losing the MiCRUS and Cirent fabs would be a major problem, at least for a year or so, until designs could be ported to new fabs. <<Also, Cirrus has lost and is losing more and more talent as we sit here and type. Their headcount is heading south.>> I agree. And unfortunately it is usually many of the good people who leave rather than the dead wood. There are still many good engineers left, but there are fewer than there used to be. <<It is in my opinion that in order to maintain revenue, Cirrus will either have to close their Austin facility and move it to the bay area, or they will have to make further cuts in Fremont. They simply can not afford to maintain 5 buildings in Fremont.>> I hope there is not a need for another RIF. From the last few quarters it would not seem to me that scenario is imminent. But again, I am not asking you for information I shouldn't know. As for the buildings, maybe they can lease another one or two to Avant!<g>. Thanks again for your comments. G.P.