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 : Seagate Technology - Fundamentals -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Duker who wrote (525)	2/18/1999 4:12:00 PM
From: Duker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1989

Seagate Tech Plans To Re-Enter Laptop Drive Business By Christopher Grimes NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Seagate Technology Inc.'s (SEG) chief executive said the company will re-enter the business of selling disk drives used in laptop computers within the next 12 to 14 months. The move would be a renewed challenge to International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), which dominates the market now. Stephen J. Luczo, president and chief executive officer of Seagate, said in a recent interview that computer companies are anxious to have an alternative to IBM's disk drives. Because Big Blue has a commanding share of the laptop market - which tends to be far more profitable than the desktop PC market - it has more leeway to charge what it wants, he said. Further, many PC companies are reluctant to give business to IBM, a competitor of theirs. Seagate and IBM have battled over the laptop market and the high-end server market - two of the most lucrative areas of the disk drive sector. IBM pulled ahead of Seagate over the last year and a half, but Luczo said Seagate is beginning to catch up in the server market. Jim Porter, president of market research firm Disk/Trend Inc., said IBM has taken "significant market share" from Seagate in the server market simply because it has "executed very well." Luczo, a former investment banker who took over Seagate last year when he unseated founder Al Shugart as chief executive, said he is pushing the company to improve its "time to market." Because the disk drive business now has short, six-month product cycles, getting samples of the newest technology to PC companies on time is crucial. Seagate has lagged competitors in qualifying its new products on time in the last couple of years. But Porter said Seagate seems to be improving its time-to-market issues. Seagate appears to be "executing quite well" right now, he said. Separately, Seagate said in a filing with the Securities Exchange Commission this week that it will take undisclosed charges in the March quarter related to consolidating some of its customer service operations. The filing also said that the sale of a portion of Seagate's software business to Veritas Software Corp. (VRTS) will probably close sometime in the second calender quarter, not in the first quarter as previously expected. A company spokesman said Seagate expects regulatory approval soon for the transaction. -Christopher Grimes (201) 938-5253 e-mail: christopher.grimes@cor.dowjones.com