News - Oct.89 - Nov.89 - Part II
From: Atari SIG (xx004)
Date: 02/28/90-06:45:51 PM Z
From: xx004 (Atari SIG)
Subject: News - Oct.89 - Nov.89 - Part II
Date: Wed Feb 28 18:45:51 1990
Time Capsule - News - Oct.89 - Nov.89
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News Subject Title Date Posted
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Atari Corp Facts & Figures Oct.18,1989
Word Up 2.0 Oct.22,1989
ST Scan V1.5 released Nov.15,1989
Developers form defence Nov.15,1989
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-Article #169 (208 is last):
-Newsgroups: freenet.sci.comp.atari.news
-From: aa399 (Len Stys)
-Subject: Atari Corp. Facts & Figures
-Date: Wed, 18 Oct 89 22:21:45 EDT
Atari Corp. facts and figures
_____________________________
* Please Note * Most of this information has been obtained from:
Atari's stock reports and Standard ASE Stock Reports.
ASE Symbol ATC
Price: Aug. 28'89 9 1/4
Range: 1989 9 7/8 - 4 3/4
P-E Ratio: 26
Dividend: None
Yield: None
S&P Ranking: NR
Beta: NA
Summary
_______
Earnings fell sharply in the first half of 1989, penalized by unfavorable
exchange rates and lower U.S. video game sales. The Tramiel family owns
51% of the common shares, and Warner Communications owns 25%.
Business Summary
________________
Atari Corporation was founded in 1984 by Jack Tramiel, co-founder and former
CEO of Commodore International, develops, manufactures and markets
personal computers and video game systems. Foreign operations represent
an important component of the company's business; the geographic distribution
of sales for the past two years was:
1988 1987
U.S & Canada........... 29% 38%
Export sales........... 3% 5%
Europe................. 65% 56%
Other.................. 3% 1%
Atari's main products are its ST and MEGA series of personal computer
systems. At December 31, 1988, over 5,000 software titles were available
for these computers. During 1988, Atari started shipping a line of
microcomputers compatible with software written for the IBM PC XT computers.
Atari also markets its XE series computers for the entry level computer
user.
Atari is one of the largest sellers of video game systems in the U.S., with
its line comprising the 2600 VCS, the 7800 ProSystem and the XE Game System.
The 2600 is the most widely owned video game system in the world with more
software available than for any other video game, and retails for under $50.
The 7800 ProSystem, first offered in May 1986, features enhanced graphics
for arcade-quality video games, and generally retails for less than $100.
The Federated Group, Inc. was acquired in October 1987, operates 40 consumer
electronics "Super-stores" in California, Arizona, and Texas. The
stores average over 22,000 sq.ft. of retail space, and sells audio, video
and other consumer electronic products.
The Federated consumer electronic stores has been classified as a
discontinued operation by Atari.
Important Developments
______________________
Jul. '89- Atari said it is discussing the sale of certain assets of Federated
Group to NASDAQ listed Fretter Inc.
Aug. '89- Atari said it had shipped several thousand units of its Atari
Portfolio, a new IBM compatible handheld personal computer that retails
for about $399. Atari also said it
will begin shipping a hand-held color LCD game system during the fourth
quarter of 1989.
Net Sales (Million $)
Quarter 1989 1988 1987 1986
Mar....... 88.8 98.3 65.1 44.9
Jun....... 82.7 102.5 70.7 60.7
Sep....... 98.8 80.4 59.9
Dec....... 152.6 277.0 258.1
Net sales from coninuing operations for the six months ended July 1, 1989, fell
15% year to year, reflecting unfavorable currency exchange rates and
lower U.S. sales of video games. Income continuing operations plunged 84%, to
$3,615,000 ($0.06 a share), from $22,940,000 ($0.40). Results exclude
losses from discontinued operations of $0.19 a share in the 1988 interim.
Dividend Data
_____________
The company has not paid cash dividends and intends to retain future earnings
to finance its growth. A 100% stock dividend was paid in June 1987.
Finances
________
In June 1989, Atari agreed to pay $12.1 million to settle charges that its
Federated Group illegally forced employees and job applicants to take
lie-detector tests. Atari said that as a result of insurance coverage,
there will be no adverse financial impact to it or Federated.
In Feburary, 1989, Atari filed a $250 million lawsuit against Nintendo Co.,
a Japanese home video-game manufacturer, alleging that it has
violated antitrust laws by preventing the creators of games licensed for play
on its game consoles from selling their games for use on other video game
systems. Nintendo termed the allegation "meritless."
In November 1988, Atari purchased the creditor posistion in Federated from
a group of five banks for about $32 million. Federated had been in default
on certain agreements and was facing foreclosuer on its assets by the bank
group.
In August 1988, Atari filed a lawsuit against several former members and
advisers of the Federated Group, alleging that the company's assets had
been intentiaonally overstated by $43 million, resulting in a serious
overpayment by Atari for the retail chain, which Atari had purchased for
$64 million in 1987.
In April 1987, underwriters led by PainWebber International sold $75
million of Atari 5 1/4% convertible subordinated debentures to foreign
investors. Proceeds were used for expansion and acquisitions.
In November 1986, through underwriters led by PaineWebber Inc., Atari publicly
sold 10,165,000 shares of its common stock at $5.75 each. Proceeds were
used to repay debt and increase working capital.
Capitalization
______________
Long Term Debt: $75,000,000 (12/88) of 5 1/4% sub. debs. conv. into com. at
$16.3125 a share.
Common Stock: 57,722,663 shs. ($0.01 par). The Tramiel family owns 51% and
Warner Communications hold 25%. Shareholders: 1,527 of record (3/88).
___
The rest of this posting deals with Commodore and how it compares to Atari
so if you are not interested in reading about Commodore then please enter 'q'
to quit the rest of this posting.
Thanks.
___
Interesting facts about Commodore
International...
NYSE Symbol CBU Options on Phila
Commodore makes microcomputers and offers peripherals and software for the
home, education, and business markets.
CBU's line includes the Amiga computers, which feature advanced
graphics, the 64C/128 home computers, and MS-DOS compatible computers.
Some 74% of sales come from overseas. In June, 1989 CBU said operations would
be at about breakeven in the fourth quarter of fiscal 1989 due to the
significant appreciation of the dollar. However, good growth is expected in
fiscal 1990.
Important Developments
______________________
CBU said that due to substantial appreciation of the dollar, sales in
fiscal 1989's fourth quarter would be below the year-earlier $215 million and
earnings would range from a modest profit to a modest loss. Gross margins
were expected to decline as the strength of the sales but had only a
small positive effect on product costs due to the delayed impact and the
relatively limited strengthening of the dollar against Far Eastern currencies.
Business Summary
________________
As of 12/89, there were over 600,000 Amiga units sold with over 1,500
software titles.
The Commodore 64C/128D have over 10,000 software packages available.
Dividend Data
_____________
No cash dividends have ever been paid.
Finance
_______
In January, 1989 CBU reported that its U.S. subsidiary had received a
statuatory notice of deficiency from the Internal Revenue Service for taxes
of $74 million for 1981-3. CBU said its tax reserves, in light of available
tax loss carrybacks, are adequate to cover a realistic resolution of the
situation and that such a resolution would not have a material impact on
earnings, cash flow or financial
posistion.
Capitalization
______________
Long Term Debt: $130,000,000.
Common Stock: 31,674,304 shs. ($0.01 par).
Some 18% closely held.
Instituations hold about 36%.
Shareholders: 4,100.
Again, most of this information has been taken from Atari's stock
reports and Standard ASE Stock Reports,
Vol 24/No. 71/Sec. 2 by Standard &
Poor's Corp. 25 Broadway, NY, NY 10004.
ls
-
-Article #170 (208 is last):
-Newsgroups: freenet.sci.comp.atari.news
-From: aa400 (Phillip M. Chow)
-Subject: WordUp 2.0
-Date: Sun, 22 Oct 89 08:28:06 EDT
Neocept announces WordUp version 2.0
Neocept, Inc. announces the release of WordUp version 2.0. This new
version is said to have over 60 improvements.
In addition to Neochrome, Degas and IMG formats, GEM metafile pictures can
now be imported. According to company president Shelby Moore III, WordUp 2.0
does a better than average job of supporting text within metafiles, especially
those pictures that have been resized or cropped. GEM metafiles are especially
useful for incorporating high quality business graphics or technical
illustrations.
Other features that have been added in version 2.0, include multi-level
hanging indents, scaling of installed fonts up to 50 points, 360dpi 24-pin
printouts, foreign and extended character set support, and mail merge support
for Regent Base and The Informer.
Shelby stated that version 2.0 has greatly improved scrolling speed and
typing response. In addition, color monitor users now have the option to use
monochrome fonts for greatly improved readability.
Some of the other improvements inclde 40k more memory with 520ST, no more
crashing when manipulating pictures, does not turn mouse off with desk
accessories, and numerous other crashing type bugs fixed. Registered owners
should have received an upgrade form from the company by now.
WordUp is a full featured word processor that allows you to mix multiple
fonts and graphics in a document. WordUp has a suggested retail price of
$79.95. For more information contact:
Neocept, Inc.
547 Constitution, Unit A
Camarillo, CA 93010
(805) 482-4446
-
-Article #180 (208 is last):
-Newsgroups: freenet.sci.comp.atari.news
-From: aa400 (Phillip M. Chow)
-Subject: STSCAN version 1.5 released
-Date: Wed, 15 Nov 89 18:57:37 EST
STSCAN v1.5 released
Campbell, CA - Navarone Industries, Inc. announces the release of STSCAN
Version 1.5. Several new features are added along with enhancements of some
old features.
Four new disk file formats for saving scanned images include DEGAS Full
Screen, Tagged Image File Format (TIFF), Encapsulated PostScript and Compressed
TIFF.
DEGAS Full Screen format allows saving the full page, scanned image as a
72 dot per inch (dpi) file. The previous version allowed only a portion of the
image to be saved, due to the limitation of 32k fle format. Encapsulated
PostScript, TIFF and Compressed TIFF will now permit the scanned images to be
imported into a desktop publishing programs on the IBM, compatibles and
Macintosh computers.
STSCAN's Full Page scan feature has been enhanced to more accurately
represent the scanned image by presenting it on the display screen at 72dpi
rather than the previous 75dpi display. The Full Page scan also now accepts
halftone and intensity settings to preview the image.
At times, the size of the file to be saved may exceed a megabyte of data.
While saving the scanned image to a disk file, a progression box is now
displayed, indicating the progress of the save.
Several keyboard comands have been added to supplement the dropdown menu
selections. This helps to eliminate using the mouse for activatiing features
of the program. The user may now print directly to the Atari SLM804 laser
printer from within the STSCAN program.
A new program, STCOPY, is also provided with the package. STCOPY along
with the Atari SLM804 laser printer turns the computer system into a copy
machine. Scanned pages or previously saved .IMG files may be printed. A
dialog box allows up to 999 copies to be printed at once.
STCOPY does not use the Diablo 630 emulator, it uses its own interface to
the SLM804. A dialog box permits selection of either Manual or Automatic paper
feed.
STSCAN 1.5 plus the STCOPY program, priced at $25, is available from:
Navarone Industries, Inc.
454 Kenneth Ave.
Campbell, CA 95008
(408) 378-8177
--
-Article #181 (208 is last):
-Newsgroups: freenet.sci.comp.atari.news
-From: aa400 (Phillip M. Chow)
-Subject: Developers form 'self defense' group
-Date: Wed, 15 Nov 89 18:58:28 EST
Developers Form 'Self Defense' Group
____________________________________________________
Charge Atari 'hinders' development, by Nevin Shalit
Fairfax, VA - Disturbed by a series of actions by Atari Corporation, a
group of more than 35 people representing approximately 25 software developers
met on October 8th to create an official Atari ST Developers Association.
The meeting was held at the Quality Inn in Fairfax, Virginia and lasted
approximately one hour. There were two major complaints about Atari Corp.
that surfaced repeatedly throughout the meeting.
First, the developers were upset that Atari has done virtually no
marketing for the ST in the United States. Atari has promised many times to
launch a major advertising campaign to support the US ST market, but every year
the campaign failes to surface. Developers feel that without an effective
effort to sell more STs in North America, it will be increasingly difficult to
make a living developing software and harware for the Atari.
Second, the developers were equally upset at the limited technical support
Atari provides its thrid party vendors. Many in attendance commented that it
is very difficult to get technical information from Atari, that information
about the new TT and STE is impossible to obtain, and that almost none of them
were offered information that would have allowed them to develop for the
Portfolio prior to its release.
It appears, then, that the goals of the new developers association will be
to convince Atari to make a serious marketing effort to sell more STs in the
US, and improve the flow of technical information out of Sunnyvale.
The meeting was held with the understanding that comments would be on the
record for the press, but that the individuals who spoke would not be
identified. Many believe that Atari might retaliate against individuals who
"make waves," but that a group of leading developers would be not only a more
powerful voice but would also be immune to retaliation.
One developer complained angrily that every year Atari promises to launch
an adverising campaign but never delivers. He went on to note that Commodore
has just started a 15 million dollar media blitz for the Amiga including
television ads and multi page spreads in national publications such as Time
magazine. He was concerned that the ST was going to be left as a weak
"also-ran" in the personal computer market.
As te discussion continued concerning Atari's lack of advertising, many used the word "lies" to describe promises made and broken by Atari executives.
Developers said they were concerned about advertising because without
advertising, the number of new machines sold in the US is very small. Software
and hardware developers say they can not continue to make a living selling to
the same installed base; they need a constantly growing user base to whom they
can sell their products.
The lack of advertising is also connected in some manner to a lack of
dealers carrying the ST. One developer said that Atari has so few dealers it
"is pathetic." He went on to say that Atari believes that when they ship the
TT, dealers around the country will forget their mistreatment by Atari and
clamor to carry the it. This developer said Atari was sadly mistaken in this
belief.
Some developers offered suggestions of how to get Atari to advertise. One
idea under consideration is to sponsor a resolution at the next annual
stockholders meeting of Atari Corp requiring them to legally commit to spending
a large amount of money advertising the ST line in the US. "It would be real
hard for Jack to vote against that kind of resolution in public," one developer
said referring to Jack Tramiel. He went on to say that he plans to contact
leaders in the financial community with ties to Atari, such as Lee Isgur at
Paine Webber, to let them know that there are real problems in the Atari world
and to see if those who have financial leverage with Atari might be able to
shake up the executives in Sunnyvale.
Concerning technical support, almost everyone in the room was in agreement
that Atari's tech support to developers is very weak. Many comments were made
to the effect that Atari refuses to tell developers about bugs in the operating
system and to provide workarounds. It is up to each developer, then, to find
these bugs and solve them for him or herself. If Atari were more forthcoming
about the weaknesses in the machine, then developers could use the official
workarounds and concentrate on other aspects of development.
Similarly, the developers were livid that Atari plans to release the STE
very shortly while technical information about the machine is impossible to
obtain. Identical comments were made about the TT. There were a number of
Canadian developers in attendance and they all agreed that when an important
employee left Atari Canada a few months ago the level of tech support north of
the border dropped precipitously.
Most of the comments at the meeting were directed at Atari Corporation in
general but there were some who said that Leonard Tramiel, a son of Jack
Tramiel and head of Atari's System Software division, is specifically
responsible for much of the bad blood between developers and Atari Corporation.
During and after the meeting a significant number of individuals said that
Leonard Tramiel repeatedly insults developers in private and in public - at
trade shows for example - and that he is responsible for many bad decisions
that Atari has made over the years, including the poor flow of technical
informaton from Atari to its developers. Some in attendance at the meeting
voiced their hope that Leonard would leave Atari some day while others noted
that this might be possible, since Wang corporation recently fired the son of
Wang's founder.
Reached at Atari's offices in Sunnyvale, Leonard Tramiel said he was
"surprised" to hear these accusations. He said he does not know too many
developers and has never meant to insult anyone. "If I did say something [to
insult someone] then I apologize." He said that any developer who has a
problem with him should call or write him and say, "Hey Leonard, you are being
a jerk." He did say, however, that if there is a certain program he is
familiar with and simply does not like, and a developer asks for his opinion,
he will tell him straight out that it is "garbage." He added, however, that he
does admire a lot of ST software and pointed to Migraph's various applications
and Master CAD as examples of superior ST programs.
As can be expected, there was a certain amount of confusion at the
developers' meeting. Not everyone agreed on what the major focus of the new
developers association should be or who should be allowed to be a member.
Those in attendance thus decided to form a board of directors of 6 individuals
whose responsibility would be to write the bylaws of the group and to outline
the goals of the group. The six chosen for the board of directors were Gordon
Monnier of MichTron, Nathan Potechin of ISD Marketing, John Eidsvoog of
CodeHead Software, Rick Flashman of Gribnif software, George Morrison of Alpha
Systems and Jim Allen of Fast Technologies.
--
Used here with _Permisson_ :
ST Informer, 909 NW Starlite Place, Grants Pass, OR 97526
No. 29 - November, 1989
--
____-______-______-______-______-______
This Time Capsule file was produced by
Len Stys. It may only be reposted with
the following information included:
REPOSTED FROM: The Cleveland Free-Net
Atari-SIG
(216)/368-3888
type 'Go Atari' at
any menu
(C.A.I.N.)
____-______-______-______-______-______
--
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