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Amiga Update (1995-04-24)
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// Amiga Update - News and Rumors //
\X/ (A Very Occasional Newsletter) \X/
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950424
D A S A M I G A ? J A !
After considerable confusion Thursday and Friday of last week, it looks like
the German company ESCOM is the winner of the Commodore Remains Auction. Their
bid was accepted after they increased it to a rumored $12 Million.
CEI, despite a last minute aliance with Dell Computer, is out of the picture.
Their bid was higher initially, but was rejected apparently because Dell
wanted more time to study the patents. Auction rules required bids with no
conditions.
From here it looks like ESCOM had the better business sense, which may be
good for the Amiga and other Commodore products. What there is no way of knowing
is the level of their commitment to the line. Supposedly they are looking at
continuing the "traditional" Amiga product line, developing a PowerPC based
Amiga, and making both Mac and IBM compatible clones, as well as selling
Commodore 64s to China (see below).
Those are pretty ambitious plans for what's essentially a new computer company.
Howerver, ESCOM already has many ex-Commodore employees and at least has been
around as a computer industry player for some time. Remember also that Commodore
made a fairly large line of IBM compatibles at one time.
Brad
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Below are two news stories we found on the nets. They were posted at various
times during the Friday and Saturday goings on. Actually, Friday night at
10:00 CDT there was a gathering of Amigans in the IRC area of the Internet to
review what had happened. Unfortunately the only IRC server we were able to
gain access to from our Internet provider was split from the net at that
point so we couldn't attend. Therefor, the information we have today comes
from these and similar stories and other on-line chats we were involved in
during the weekend. These stories are from GEnie.
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The Sam Report (Auction) #3 7:00 PM 4-21-95 (EDT)
Just spent 45 minutes with CEI. The last communication they had with
Alex Amor was around 4:00EDT. At that time, nothing had been
resolved and the Courtroom scene was nasty.
The Dell/CEI alliance began only approx 2 weeks ago. Their joint bid
on Thursday was considerably higher that the $5 million ESCOM bid, but
was rejected for its condition that Dell/CEI be allowed 30 days to
conduct "due diligence" (verify assets including patents).
The judge would have to break the agreed protocol to rescind the
4/20 award to ESCOM and may not be willing to do so. If no ruling
comes today (Friday) things may be carried over to Monday. Alex
may return to Miami to go fishing over the weekend.
Some interesting footnotes...IBM is still the CEI contract manu-
facturer if things go their way. It was said that Dell would allow
CEI to run its own show pretty much. As others have reported,
Dell is on a large "patent hunt"...now seeking to establish its
own identity as a creator of technology rather than a copier.
I hope to hear from CEI at home tonight if there are any late
developments. Stay tuned for further Sam Reports for Genie.
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{Note that ESCOM raised its bid and things did NOT go Dell/CEI's way, as
stated above}
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Category 15, Topic 16
Message 326 Fri Apr 21, 1995
M.RUBIN9 FLOATER] at 14:29 EDT
Bankruptcy Court is now in recess until 2:30. Arguments were heard this
morning from the liquidator who suggests that the court should accept the
outcome of the auction: ESCOM takes it all for 5 Million. The creditors
countered with a new offer from Dell Computer for 15 Million, however Dell
wants 30 days to work the deal out. Dell is willing to put down a 1 Million
dollar non-refundable deposit today.
It seems that the Judge is very sympathetic to the creditors (and therefore
Dell), but he instructed the council for the creditors to negotiate with ESCOM
over lunch. My sense is that if ESCOM will raise their bid to 12-13 Million
right now than they'll get it. Otherwise negotiations will move forward with
Dell.
Alex Amor and CEI are allied with Dell, but it is very unclear what the
working relationship will be. In fact, all discussion in court only refers to
Dell. As far as ESCOM goes, word is that they will go back into production -
that is with Commodore 64's in China. Apparently there is great demand for a
very basic machine that is super cheap and that's why the fight over the
Commodore name. Its dubious that they would produce Amigas.
I'll post again later. (I've never been around so many suits since my Bar
Mitzvah!)
Floater
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{C64s for China! What a concept. Note that the author of the above story is
probably a CEI sympathiser and this may color his opinion of ESCOM. Then
again, maybe not.}
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As we hear more in the next few days, we'll send it along.
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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
(but ESCOM can - ?) || Portal -- XJumpdisk
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