Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!wugate!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!Bob_BobR_Retelle
From: Bob_BobR_Retelle@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Asst. Dribble....
Message-ID: <24088@cup.portal.com>
Date: 15 Nov 89 08:49:24 GMT
References: <8911140555.AA11589@jupiter.nmt.edu>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 27

Eric Hobbs sez:
 
>Some people are giving me the impression that Sam and Jack Tramiel
>bought Atari for tens of millions of dollars just so they could lose
>money on it and drive the corporation into the ground. Somehow that 
>doesn't strike me as reasonable.
 
Er... read up on your Atari Inc/Atari Corp history... Jack Tramiel obtained
control of the Atari company with VERY LITTLE cash outlay...   essentially
he took over control of a bankrupt division of Warner Communications and
sold off the existing warehouse stock at a fraction of its list price value
to raise cash...  he then used that cash to finance the debut of the ST onto
the marketplace.  When the ST appeared to be going places, he went "public"
and sold stock in the Corp and used the proceeds to pay off outstanding
debts... 
 
Jack has since "retired" and let his sons run Atari Corp... with the 
results that we see today...
 
(I won't reiterate those ramifications in deference to those who would rather
think everything is just rosy in the Atari world...)
 
 
Bottom Line: "Sam and Jack"  *NEVER*  paid "tens of millions" for Atari, 
and nothing they've done strikes me as "reasonable"...
 
BobR