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 : Oak Technology (OAKT) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dan Spillane who wrote (4006)	4/21/1998 8:47:00 PM
From: RAW	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4335

Oak buys former Hyundai consumer group By Anthony Cataldo SUNNYVALE, Calif. - To reduce its dependence on the sale of optical storage devices, Oak Technology Inc. has acquired from Hyundai Electronics America key assets of that company's former consumer microelectronics division, Odeum Microsystems Inc. Odeum had developed audio and video decoding devices for use in set-top boxes. The acquisition includes intellectual property related to Odeum's IC products, as well as a group of hardware and software engineers. The Odeum operation has become the Cable/Satellite Business Unit of Oak's consumer group. Oak has already started offering two Odeum products currently in production. They are an integrated MPEG-2 audio/video decoder and transport demultiplexer, and a DVB-S-compliant QPSK demodulator. Odeum was first launched in 1994 as an ambitious project by Hyundai to expand into consumer electronics. Digital set-top boxes, however, were slow to gain acceptance at the time. Oak derives almost 80 percent of its revenue from optical storage devices, and has recently experienced pressure on its margins due to the dollar's strength vs. Asian currencies and to the sub-$1,000 PC market. The company shuffled its board of directors earlier this year and reorganized into three product divisions with respective focuses on optical storage, consumer electronics and office equipment. The company pulled out of the graphics and audio IC business at the time of that reorganization.