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Technology Stocks : C-Cube -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Peter V who wrote (40978)	5/13/1999 3:16:00 AM
From: Humblefrank	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50808

Someone put this on the AOL board. I don't know where it comes from. It might be bogus. >>NEW YORK. 10:20AM EST—For the past three days, the market has been buzzing with the news that Intel Corp. (nasdaq: INTC) was looking to scoop up at least a piece of C-Cube Microsystems (nasdaq: CUBE). But that speculation might remain just that since it seems that European chipmakers STMicroelectronics (nyse: STM) and Royal Philips Electronics (nyse: PHG) are also looking at C-Cube. The two European giants are making a strong move into the set-top box and digital television space, two vertical markets where C-Cube is a powerhouse. C-Cube sells graphic encoders and decoders to set-top boxmakers like General Instrument (nyse: GIC) and Scientific Atlanta (nyse: SFA). The European interest can be traced back to this morning's announcement that America Online (nyse: AOL) is building an interactive TV platform using Cyrix (nyse: NSM) hardware in partnership with Royal Philips Electronics NV, Network Computer, General Motors Corp.'s (nyse: GM) Hughes Electronics and DirecTV. Network Computer, a software maker majority-owned by Oracle Corp. (nasdaq: ORCL), will provide the software, while Hughes Network Systems will sell advanced dual-mode satellite receivers made by Philips. DirecTV is one of the biggest customers of C-Cube's Divicom division, and DirecTV decoders use C-Cube chips. A Philips bid for C-Cube would not be out of character since the company recently made a billion dollar hostile bid for VLSI Technology (nasdaq: VLSI). On the other hand, STMicroelectronics has made it clear that it wants to be a dominant player in the digital video space and wants to provide chips to the emerging markets for set-top boxes, digital television and high-definition television. The courting Europeans might add a new wrinkle to the C-Cube equation. For the past four trading sessions, the volume of C-Cube share