Transmeta put up for sale

Move comes after investment fund takes stake

Microprocessor designer Transmeta is looking for a buyer. Executives announced plans to sell the company on Wednesday, saying investment bank Piper Jaffray & Co. will act as its financial advisor during the sale process.

The announcement comes two months after Transmeta reached an agreement with Riley Investment Management, a fund that made an unsolicited offer to buy the low-power processor company earlier this year.

The July agreement between Transmeta and Riley averted a proxy battle for the company. The deal limited Riley to a 13% stake in Transmeta and nominated Riley Chairman Bryant Riley to a seat on an expanded Transmeta board.

Transmeta specialises in low-power microprocessor designs and its LongRun and LongRun2 technologies are licensed to several chip makers, including Intel and Nvidia.

As part of the announcement that Transmeta wants to find a buyer, the company released details of a revised licensing agreement with Intel. Under terms of the settlement reached between the two companies last year, Intel was to pay US$150 million (NZ$218 million) to Transmeta, followed by five annual payments of US$20 million between 2009 and 2013.

That payment schedule has been accelerated, with Intel agreeing to pay a lump sum of US$91.5 million before September 30 in lieu of the five annual payments. Transmeta also agreed to deliver "a copy of certain proprietary Transmeta computing technologies" to Intel with a non-exclusive licence to use the technologies commercially.

Join the newsletter!

Or

Sign up to gain exclusive access to email subscriptions, event invitations, competitions, giveaways, and much more.

Membership is free, and your security and privacy remain protected. View our privacy policy before signing up.

Error: Please check your email address.

Tags saletransmetariley investment managementpiper jaffray

Show Comments
[]