$18m for RTV and $18.2m for Rio - I believe, but don't take it as gospel.

Rob

A bargain!!!

Hearty congratulations to Rio! It's all good news!

Rob,
This outcome is fantastic news for everyone.

This means that the Pearl is probably on track for release this year.

So, when does the "pre-registration" process start to pre-order them?

Must go. There is still some alchohol left.

Hey, yeaa! Rob neads murre alchohol!

(Oh, great news, BTW. The best!)

Sorry I meant alchohohohol.

Rob

So yeah, before I forget:

1 msr vodka
1 msr gin
1/2 msr tequila
dash cointreau
3-4 msr cranberry juice
1 msr orange juice

...ish

Glad to hear the news,thats the last thing the bay area needs is more people losing there jobs.and thats a nice new building you guys are in.

If you mean the SONICblue building near Mission College I'm certain we're not going to be in that much longer. It could hold four times as many people as we have.

Not that WE are in there anyway, being in Cambridge as we are.

Rob

yes i was talking about the one off of 237 yes that is a big building.very nice though.will those employes be keeping there jobs .I no the parking lot is always quiet empty.

There were references to Winchester drives in the 4.3 BSD for IBM RT sources, IIRC.

I still have IBM RT serial #26 in my dining room.

Looks like today was also the day I became Pooh-Bah. Woo.

LOL,( congrats)

D&M Holdings (owners of Denon and Marantz amongst other brands) won both the ReplayTV and the Rio auctions.

I trust that by the tone of your posts, this was not the company with not-so-good plans for you guys? Please tell us who that is!

I'll guess "Creative"

I would guess either of the other two would be rotten.

alchohohohol

Ooouff. Don't you hate it when you go to a party, you have a few drinks too many, Roger starts inventing cocktails, and the next thing you know you're waking up in bed with a major Japanese corporation...?

And where did this road sign come from?

Peter

I would guess either of the other two would be rotten.

Motorola might have been about as cool as Denon. I know it's a huge, huge company, but the folks that visited us seemed really nice, and seemed also to realise that the way to keep up the flow of cool products was to keep the Empeg culture as it was rather than impose a culture on us. They were also the only bidder to visit Empeg Towers -- the others, including Denon, visited only the US office.

Basically, as soon as only Denon and Motorola were left in the bidding, we knew we were onto a winner whatever happened...

Peter

I'll guess "Creative"

I couldn't possibly comment on that.

Rob

empeg lives!

Motorola has a way of ruining a good thing. Sounds like the D&M path is/was the best option. Congrats!

Reuters New Story:

14:36 16Apr2003 RTRS-D&M Holdings to buy Sonicblue's ReplayTV, Rio

NEW YORK, April 16 (Reuters) - Japan's D&M Holdings Inc. <6735.T> won a bankruptcy court auction to acquire Sonicblue Inc.'s <SBLUQ.PK> ReplayTV television recording service and Rio portable audio unit for about $36.2 million, Sonicblue said on Wednesday.
D&M Holdings said it bought inventory, receivables, intellectual property and capital equipment, and that it would also take over certain contractual relationships and liabilities. It intends to keep all ReplayTV customers and will design and manufacture a line of ReplayTV and Rio products.
D&M added that the costs related to the acquisition will be slightly dilutive to its earnings in fiscal year 2003 but add to earnings thereafter. In addition, it said it remains comfortable with the consensus market analyst earnings per share estimates for fiscal year 2003.
On the surface, the price was cheaper than the $40 million, plus assumption of some $5 million in liabilities, that D&M agreed pay Sonicblue in a similar agreement reached in March, after Sonicblue filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the northern district of California in San Jose.
That pact with D&M, the parent company of established high-end audio equipment makers Denon Ltd. and Marantz Japan Inc., fell through, which left the assets up for auction.
ReplayTV is the brand name for Sonicblue's personal digital recorder, a set-top box that allows users to save television programming to a hard drive and play it back when they choose.
The Rio unit is best known for making the first mainstream device to play music in the popular MP3 format, and also makes other portable music players.
Santa Clara, California-based Sonicblue had hoped to sell the units as a whole rather than to a suitor interested in dismantling the service.
Sonicblue Chief Executive Greg Ballard on Wednesday said the product lines would "continue to compete successfully in the marketplace," and that many, if not most, of Sonicblue's employees will continue their work.
The transaction is expected to close in approximately 10 days, D&M said.
Earlier this month, the California bankruptcy court approved Sonicblue's sale of its GoVideo business unit, which makes DVD players and digital home theater systems, to Opta Systems LLC. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

...the folks that visited us seemed really nice, and seemed also to realise that the way to keep up the flow of cool products was to keep the Empeg culture as it was rather than impose a culture on us.

I've heard that one before. Every time, without exception, that I have worked for a company that was purchased by another, larger company, the purchasers always say something to the effect that "...we want you to keep right on doing what you're doing. We're not planning on making any changes in the operation."

Yeah, right.

NOBODY spends $36M to buy a company that was so poorly managed that it was forced into involuntary bankruptcy, and then wants that company to continue on just the way it was before.

Now it is very likely that the empeg group was one of the few "shining stars" within Sonic Blue, and it is my fervent hope that the same people who have the ability to spend $36M also have the ability to realize that the Empeg culture, as you put it, is extraordinarily valuable, far beyond any normal nuts-and-bolts, assets-and-debits method of accounting could demonstrate, and if they have any sense at all they'll at least try to leave it alone for a little while so it can prove its value.

But I am not optimistic about this.

tanstaafl.

In the company I work for, the "culture" that they so much stressed needed to be preserved is all but gone. For example, the latest desiogn flow chart showed one beer at the end, not a beer between each major design step. That's the truth nowdays, too. Not enough celebration, though with the layoffs and not-so-good numbers, celebrations are hardly justifiable lately, but we did celebrate the loss of a few individuals in the layoffs privately...

Is the "preserving the culture" a mostly British thing? I'd never really heard it that much until I started at a British company.

In the company I work for, the "culture" that they so much stressed needed to be preserved is all but gone. For example, the latest desiogn flow chart showed one beer at the end, not a beer between each major design step.

I'd be thrilled to work for a company that has a beer located anywhere on any company presentation.

Well the best part is while there is a "No alcohol on company premises" rule, the VP of Sales gave us the quaterly rundown with an oil can of Foster's in hand... in the training room... That's one thing I love about the company, beer is still part of the culture, but not as much as before the tech slowdown...

In reply to:

---

so poorly managed that it was forced into involuntary bankruptcy

---

I think this happened because of lawsuits against Rio (remember how they got sued for making mp3 players by the RIAA? Well the RePlayTV lawsuits were even bigger) and not due to poor managment.

Or in the case of Metrowerks, ruining a bad thing ;-)

Greg