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Joint Venture

AMD-Fujitsu Flash Memory Joint Venture Raises $506.4 Million in IPO

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on December 16, 2005 - 8:30am.
Sunnyvale, Calif. - Shares of Spansion rose more than 12% in their debut Friday after the Flash memory joint venture of Sunnyvale-based AMD and Fujitsuraised $506.4 million in its initial public offering (IPO). It was the second largest IPO for a U.S. technology company this year. That in spite of the fact that the company priced its 42.2 million shares at $12 each, below its expected range of $13-$14, which itself had been lowered from $16-$18. Spansion's technology is used in consumer electronics products such as cell phones, PCs, set-top boxes and DVD players. The company's shares, trading on the Nasdaq under the symbol "SPSN," closed at $13.44.
tags: Deals | VC | Joint Venture | Flash Memory | AMD-Fujitsu |

Hollywood Studios Invest $30 Million in Anti-Piracy Joint Venture

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on September 19, 2005 - 9:46am.
New York -- The six major Hollywood movie studios have formed a joint venture to develop new anti-piracy technologies, The New York Times reported on Monday. Motion Picture Laboratories (MovieLabs) will receive $30 million in financing over its first two years from the studios to develop various anti-piracy technologies not being addressed in the marketplace. Initiatives include developing a means of jamming camcorders smuggled into movie theaters; network management software to block movie-trading on campus and corporate computer networks; tools to detect illegal file-sharing on public networks; security for home networks; and technological methods of maintaining regional release windows worldwide. "Our highest priority is protecting the integrity of our product," Dan Glickman, chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), told The Times. The MPAA said it modeled its MovieLabs venture on the cable TV industry's CableLabs, which develops technologies cable TV providers needed and that consumer electronics firms were not addressing in the market.
tags: Anti-Piracy | Invest | Joint Venture | Hollywood Studios |

E-Book Systems Lands $3 Million as Part of Asian Joint Venture

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on November 30, 2004 - 4:01am.
Santa Clara, Calif. -- E-Book Systems, developer of a 3-D page-flipping interface, has announced that it will receive a $3 million investment from Japan's Softbank Media & Marketing as part of a joint venture between the two companies. Specifically, the investment will go to E-Book Systems' Singapore-based unit, which holds a number of patents for e-publishing technologies. The new joint venture company, E-Book Systems Kabushiki Kaisha (KK), will direct the establishment of electronic publishing in Japan and Korea. E-Book Systems KK anticipates turning a profit by 2006. Currently, 273 magazine titles worldwide use the company's technology, which delivers multimedia content in the form of a virtual book.
tags: E-Book | Joint Venture | Asian |

Hitachi and Mitsubishi Launch European Joint Venture

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on April 1, 2003 - 3:29am.
London -- Hitachi and Mitsubishi Electronics on Tuesday launched a joint venture called Renesas Technology Europe. The new company will focus on the design and manufacture of semiconductor system solutions for the mobile, network, and automotive industries, digital home electronics and industrial markets. Renesas Technology Europe will be headquartered in Maidenhead in the U.K., with major centers in Dusseldorf and Munich in Germany. Matthew Trowbridge, formerly executive general manager of Hitachi Europe's Electronic Components Group, has been appointed CEO of the new company.
tags: Europe | Joint Venture | Hitachi | Mitsubishi |