Atari Swallowed by JTS

[Honestly, I'm not trying to hearken back to the Atari-slanted Amiga Report
days of old.  But the 90's do seem to be the decade of collapse for the
pioneers in the personal computing industry, and it's worth noting that
Commodore is not alone.  -Jason]

DOW JONES NEWS 02-13-96  10:09 AM
Sunnyvale, Calif.  (Dow Jones) -- Atari Corp. (ATC) and JTS Corp.
agreed to merge.

August Liguori, chief financial officer of Atari, said the transaction is a
stock swap for about 40 million Atari common shares, valued at about $80
million.

Liguori said Atari will continue to support its Jaguar video-game system
through 1996, despite heavy competition from Sony Corp.'s (SNE) Playstation
and Sega Enterprises Ltd.'s Saturn systems.

JTS Corp., of San Jose, Calif., is a privately held maker of computer disk
drives.

Atari said in a press release that under the agreement the merged company
will operate under the name of JTS Corp.  and the current officers of JTS
Corp.  will become the officers of the merged company.  The Atari
entertainment business and the JTS disk drive business will operate as
separate divisions of the merged company.

The boards of Atari and JTS approved a definitive agreement for the merger.
Closing, set for the end of the second calendar quarter, is subject to some
shareholder and regulatory approvals and other conditions.

After the merger, Atari shareholders will own about 60% of the outstanding
shares of the new company.  The transaction is structured as a tax-free
reorganization and will be accounted for as a purchase.

Atari also said it extended a $25 million bridge loan to JTS Corp.  and if
the merger is not consummated, the loan will be convertible into JTS series
A preferred shares at the option of Atari or JTS and subject to some
conditions.
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 02-13-96
10:09 AM

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