paema@ssc-vax.UUCP (Marvin P Willoughby) (08/29/88)
Does anyone know if anything is left of the old Fortune Systems. I thought it would just be a matter of time before the thing folded and left everyone high and dry. Fortune never did give much support anyway so far as I can tell. P. Willoughby
wayne@teemc.UUCP (//ichael R. //ayne) (08/30/88)
In article <2190@ssc-vax.UUCP> paema@ssc-vax.UUCP (Marvin P Willoughby) writes: >Does anyone know if anything is left of the old Fortune Systems. > >I thought it would just be a matter of time before the thing folded >and left everyone high and dry. Fortune never did give much support >anyway so far as I can tell. Ford Motor Company bought a lot of these things in their first wave of office automation. There are still a lot of them in use today, I think Ford does all their own support (H/W & S/W). For what they were, the Fortunes were nice machines. Unfortunately, Fortune did not provide much of an upgrade path. There is a place that sells old Fortune equipment. It is really a subsidiary of Fortune. When I was in the market for an inexpensive system, I contacted them and decided that their prices were too high (still!). Fortune went bankrupt at one point. Ford picks computer companies well, another "corporate standard" was the Victor 9000, which also went bankrupt. The present "standard" is IBM, (we're all hoping the trend will continue... :-) /\/\ \/\/ -- Michael R. Wayne --- TMC & Associates --- wayne@teemc.uucp INTERNET: wayne%teemc.uucp@umix.cc.umich.edu uunet!umix!teemc!wayne
good@atari.UUCP (Roy Good) (08/31/88)
in article <2190@ssc-vax.UUCP>, paema@ssc-vax.UUCP (Marvin P Willoughby) says: > > Does anyone know if anything is left of the old Fortune Systems. > I thought it would just be a matter of time before the thing folded > and left everyone high and dry. Fortune never did give much support > anyway so far as I can tell. SCI Systems, Huntsville Alabama, acquired "substantially all of the assets" of Fortune Systems in the middle of 1987. What was left was essentially the holding company (ie $20M+, a large tax-loss carry forward (>$70M) and a subsidiary doing Word:Era, a UNIXtm word processor based on Fortune:Word). This remnant then changed its name to Tigera Group, since SCI bought all rights to the name Fortune. In an associated deal, a Monaco-based group named Orion Trading (with Australian financing) acquired rights to use the name of Fortune's 32-bit line (ie "Formula") on non-Fortune products. [Draw a flowchart - it's easy then!] Tigera recently announced that it is trying to sell the software subsidiary, and has started rolling its losses in with those still being attributed to the other "discontinued operations" (ie the sold-off bits). Thus Tigera is now essential an investment company with around $20M looking to acquire companies for ongoing business. Stock (NASDAQ-"TYGR") is trading at 1-1/16. Tigera is apparently working on an annual report for year ended 12/31/87, but doesn't plan a shareholders meeting this year. I guess the SEC don't mandate one, unless a shareholder insists. Fortune Systems continues as a part of SCI, and is based at Shoreway Road, San Carlos, California (Tel: 415 593 9000). Almost all the senior people left within 9 months of the SCI acquisition, many sooner. The group is down to around 50-60 people now, I believe, handling R&D, support, sales and marketing. There is also a Repair group based at a different location in San Carlos. Manufacturing is done via Huntsville, although parts are built in SCI's manufacturing facilities elsewhere (eg Milpitas). Fortune's 32-bit Formula has V.3.1 up on it, and SCI's own Multibus-I based systems also have V.x, but using 80x86 rather than 68020. SCI is a large contract manufacturing company (Aerospace, military, OEMs, IBM PC PCBAs etc) which bought Fortune as a vehicle to distribute its 80x86 products. SCI is also traded on NASDAQ as "SCIS" - around $12. Fiscal year ends 6/30, so its time for an Annual Report! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy J. Good Product Development, Atari Corporation Views expressed are my own. Atari may agree or disagree; they have the right. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
fred@inteloa.intel.com (Fred Christiansen) (08/31/88)
somebody bought them out. i recall seeing ads stating this earlier
in the year, but i can't remember who that "somebody" was.
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Fred Christiansen ("Canajun, eh?") | {ihnp4!verdix, sequent!ogcvax} \
BiiN Corp., Hillsboro, OR | {uunet!tektronix, siemens} - !inteloa!fred
"Children spell love T-I-M-E." | {uoregon!omepd, ucbvax!mtxinu} /good@atari.UUCP (Roy Good) (08/31/88)
in article <4029@teemc.UUCP>, wayne@teemc.UUCP (//ichael R. //ayne) says: > > There is a place that sells old Fortune equipment. It is really > a subsidiary of Fortune. When I was in the market for an inexpensive > system, I contacted them and decided that their prices were too high (still!). This is also the Repair center I referred to in an earlier posting. Call (415) 593 9000 and ask for PDC (Parts Distribution Center). This is still a dedicated group, with John Stanfa managing it. They are doing a good job despite everything which is going on around them. > Fortune went bankrupt at one point. NO WAY!!! At the time "old" Fortune (now Tigera) sold off the computer business, they had over $20M cash and similar shareholders' equity. This was all left over from their IPO which raised, I believe, >$100M in '83. Yes, they lost money hand-over-fist (I could tell you many stories, but won't - I was a corporate officer for quite some time), but were never anywhere near bankruptcy. The board DID consider liquidation as one option, but decided against it - this is not the same as bankruptcy, nowhere near. I have some bitter memories, but cannot let the truth be perverted this way. What really gets to me is that in the last full year of operation (1986) as Fortune Systems, we "only" lost around $2M and started to roll out the 32-bit product line and even get System V ready. Then "they" decided to unload the computer business and keep the OA software stuff. As a result, many good people left, SCI bought the business and even more good people left. Tigera posted MAJOR losses as a result of the sell-off, even though they promised all along that the sale would be a wash for Tigera (ie no P&L impact). Essentially a business which was starting to turn around got strangled. I firmly believe that if the decision had not been made to sell off the business, AND if company unity had been maintained by not spinning off the software OA subsidiary in a very secretive manner (even officers of the company, with legal liabilities, were deliberately deprived of information regarding the operation), then Fortune stood a good chance of making a profit in 1987 with the Formula product line. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Roy J. Good Product Development, Atari Corporation Views expressed are my own. Atari may agree or disagree; they have the right. In this case, they probably don't even care! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------