MIPS in 'a bit of financial distress' says analyst

Peter Clarke, EE Times
(02/05/2008 10:02 AM EST)

LONDON — Processor intellectual property licensor MIPS Technologies Inc. (Mountain View, Calif.) has fallen into "a bit of financial distress" since offering to buy Chipidea Microelectronica S.A. (Lisbon, Portugal) for $147 million in cash, according to Rob Sanders, an analyst with Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein in London.

Sanders raised the issue with Warren East, CEO of rivel IP licensor ARM Holdings plc, during an analysts' meeting to discuss ARM's financial results. Sanders asked East if now was a good time for ARM to target MIPS customers.

"After MIPS bought Chipidea their company has gone into a bit of financial distress. I think their market cap is now less than the acquisition cost of the deal. So is this not the moment, maybe, to step up your efforts to target MIPS's customer base," Sanders asked. "That's a very good question and one that we've certainly talked about internally," replied East.

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