Quick Sam Tramiel anecdote

[Goochman]

 

According to press coverage of the time:

 

"Atari Chairman Jack Tramiel and his family now hold 42 percent of Atari stock".

 

"Atari shareholders will own 60 percent of the merged company".

 

 

 

So yes the 'shareholders' approve dthe merger to JTS - seems they didnt need to get much buyin outside of the family to get the merger approved.

 

Ive seen this happen before where a minority owns a majority of a business that is not in good health - only to 'sell/merge/buy' the company for a reduced cost to extract the cash.

 

I dont blame the Tramiels for Atari's demise and realize we prob wouldnt have seen the ST or other Atari products if they didnt move in.

 

However - the JTS deal was a cop out. Atari had nothing to give but cash to JTS - and JTS had nothing to give Atari.

[Rybags]

They could have merged with a troubled chain of hot-dog stands, a completely unrelated business type, and it wouldn't have made any difference.

[OldAtarian]

 

According to press coverage of the time:

 

"Atari Chairman Jack Tramiel and his family now hold 42 percent of Atari stock".

 

"Atari shareholders will own 60 percent of the merged company".

 

 

 

So yes the 'shareholders' approve dthe merger to JTS - seems they didnt need to get much buyin outside of the family to get the merger approved.

 

Ive seen this happen before where a minority owns a majority of a business that is not in good health - only to 'sell/merge/buy' the company for a reduced cost to extract the cash.

 

I dont blame the Tramiels for Atari's demise and realize we prob wouldnt have seen the ST or other Atari products if they didnt move in.

 

However - the JTS deal was a cop out. Atari had nothing to give but cash to JTS - and JTS had nothing to give Atari.

 

Yeah, that merger would be like someone running for mayor in a town of 50 people where 23 of them were close relatives. You don't have to win many outside votes to get elected. Realistically, JT probably already had someone else who owned the needed 8%+1 share on board before the shareholders meeting even took place so did the shareholders really approve the merger, or did the shares owned and/or controlled by the Tramiel family approve the merger? The rest of the shareholders could have voted no and the merger would have gone through anyway.

Edited October 4, 2010 by OldAtarian

[Rybags]

The story should be on public record somewhere - they probably would have mailed all the shareholders telling them of their plans in order to secure enough votes.

[Retro Rogue]

The story should be on public record somewhere - they probably would have mailed all the shareholders telling them of their plans in order to secure enough votes.

 

Per the stock holders and why it was voted on for yes: "what remains of the original company is being absorbed into a maker of disk drives in an $80 million stock swap."

 

Considering the declining stock value of Atari Corp at the time and the fact that JTS was then considered an up and coming company, it's not hard to see why they approved it. Remember that it was a reverse merger, with Atari "purchasing" JTS (via the stock swap which resulted in 60% ownership) and then the merged entities renaming themselves to JTS with Jack and others on the board. There had also been a promise to keep certain aspects of Atari going (licensing, etc.)

 

Here's the full details of the merger:

 

http://contracts.onecle.com/atari/jt.mer.1996.04.08.shtml.

Edited October 4, 2010 by wgungfu