History (1992): Iomega Acquires Springer

Iomega (Roy, UT) has acquired certain assets, including IP of Springer Technologies Inc. (Fremont, CA).

These assets will be used by Iomega in the continued development of proprietary thin-film head technology for application in future mass storage products.

The purchase price of the assets included an initial payment of approximately $200,000 and future consideration contingent upon the successful development and marketing of the thin-film technology.

The technology offers the potential of multiple thin-film elements in one magnetic recording head.

According to Iomega’s president, Fred Wenninger, the acquired technology will require significant additional development by Iomega’s teams both in California and in Utah.

“We see potential applications in our proprietary Bernoulli products as well as future Floptical and tape drives,” he said.

Dr. Arun Malhotra will head up the Iomega operation in Fremont, CA, reporting to Iomega SVP, Anton Radman. Malhotra most recently held a senior engineering management position with DEC and previously worked for HP in several technical management positions.

Additionally, the company announced results for 4Q91 ended December 31, 1991. It reported sales of $39.4 million and net income of $4.3 million or $.26 per share. In the corresponding quarter of 1990, sales were $32.9 million and net income was $4.8 million or $.30 per share.

For the 12 months ended December 31, 1991, sales were $136.6 million and net income was $12.3 million or $.75 per share, compared to sales of $120 .4 million and net income of $14.0 million or $.85 per share in 1990. Sales and pre-tax income amount reported for 40 and for the year ended December 31, 1991 represent record sales and pre-tax earnings compared to any previous quarter or year in the company’s history.

The primary reasons are the strong reception of Iomega’s new Bernoulli 90 products, and the continuous productivity improvements resulting from Tool Quality Control programs, said the company.

This article is an abstract of news published on the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter on issue ≠49, published on February 1992.