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Amiga Update (1995-03-13)
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// Amiga Update - News and Rumors //
\X/ (A Very Occasional Newsletter) \X/
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950313
Hilights of this issue:
>>German "Bid" Accepted - Auction to Take Place in 3-4 Weeks!<<
>>Tandy Interested in Distributing Amigas!<<
>>IBM Set to Build New Amigas!<<
Believe it or not, those are all active rumors - and all MIGHT be true.
See below!
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Please note that everything here is really only a rumor at this stage
and should be taken with many grains of salt. That said, here they are.
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Reports on GEnie quote Alex Amor, CEO of CEI, as stating he's signed an
agreement (tentative? we're not sure) with IBM for Big Blue to be CEI's
production sub-contractor for new machines once the bidding wars end, if
they ever do. This is not as strange as it sounds. IBM regularly hires out
as a contractor to other computer and electronic companies. For instance,
IBM is the actual manufacturer of Atari's "Jaguar" pseudo-64 bit game system.
There used to be a joke about "what do you get if you combine IBM and CBM?
An ICBM". Ah well, it's an old joke now.
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The other rumor reported on GEnie involves yet another large computer company,
Tandy Corporation, owners of "Radio Shack". Tandy is supposedly looking to
expand their computer line and is considering offering new Amigas if any
are made. The rumor adds that this would only be considered if there were
no association with the Commodore name. Tandy has had dealings with
Commodore in the past and wants nothing more to do with Commodore in any
form.
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From Portal comes information about the never ending bidding for
Commodore's depreciating assets. Apparently, German firm Escom has
submitted a bid to the liquidators and the bid was accepted. This should
trigger a final round of bidding, an auction of sorts, that is set to take
place in two or three weeks. Details are hard to come by. The auction would
place all bidders in different hotel rooms and let them bid away throughout
the day.
Apparently Escom is only interested in the Commodore logo for use in Germany,
where it still has value. They want to put it on their line of office
equipment. CEI supposedly feels they can top any bid made, and besides has
no interest in the Commodore name. Here's the full text of a slightly
confusing message dealing with the matter. David Pleasance is CEO of
Commodore UK, which is one of the bidders;
From: jcompton@flood.xnet.com (Jason Compton)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc
Subject: Decision reached on contract bid
Date: 9 Mar 1995 21:11:12 GMT
According to several sources, the liquidator has chosen to sign a
contract to become the contract bid for the auction of Commodore
International's assets.
The contract submitted by Escom was selected.
This now means that all interested parties will bid for Commodore's
assets, including trademarks, intellectual property, and technology,
based on the terms and conditions set by Escom's contract, with the
dollar amounts specified in the contract as opening bids.
The auction is supposed to take place in 3-4 weeks.
(This information comes to me by way of a former Commodore exec, who
confirmed this report with both the liquidator and David Pleasance. I
was unable to reach the liquidator at his office and so far have not been
able to contact any of the bidding parties.)
--
Jason Compton jcompton@xnet.com
Editor-in-Chief, Amiga Report Magazine (708) 491-4064 FAX
...I will rearrange your scales ...if I can, and I can!
AR on Aminet - docs/mags/ar???.lha AR Mailing list - Mail me
AR on WWW - http://www.cs.cmu.edu:8001/~mjw/Amiga/News/AR/
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Here's more information about Escom and the bidding, also obtained
from Portal:
Escom, Germany's 2nd largest computer company, reached an agreement
yesterday, March 10th, to pay the liquidators $6 million for the assets
that the Bahamian liquidators now control. This is in addition to the
$1.4 million that Escom has already paid to the bankruptcy trustee of
Commodore's German subsidiary.
The liquidators now plan to schedule an auction at which other bidders
would have a chance to outbid Escom. No date has been set for the
auction.
Escom also agreed to surrender the German trademark if it is outbid
for the rest of the company.
Escom's offer includes $3.5 million for Commodore's core assets, an
additional $1 million for its German assets, $500,000 for the Dutch
assets and $1 million for the manufacturing inventory in the Philippines.
Escom has agreed to pay $4.5 million to the Bahamian liquidators un-
conditionally, but will pay the remaining $1.5 million only if the
liquidators can deliver the Dutch and Philippine assets.
Also, Escom has agreed not only to surrender the German trademark to
a higher bidder, but also to pay the liquidator of the parent company
$1 million for the German assets if Escom comes out the winner in the
auction.
CEI President Alex Amor stated the he had been willing to pay $24
million for Commodore's remains last year but had been unable to
structure a deal with the Bahamian liquidators.
Escom had been willing to pay $12 million for Commodore last Septemeber.
The Bahamian court is expected to act on the agreement next week.
--
Bill Zimmer - zim@ibx.com
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That's it for now - more rumors and maybe some real news as we see it.
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|| Brad Webb - available at:
// Commodore has fallen || webb@malamute.med.ge.com
\X/ and it can't get up || GEnie -- B.Webb
|| Portal -- XJumpdisk
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