SiliconBeat

For the seventh time in just over two year, Silicon Graphics has modified the terms of a credit agreement it has that is administered by Morgan Stanley. The latest amendment made it possible for Silicon Graphics to defer interest payments due over the next two years by adding their amount to the principal amount, unless certain levels of consolidated earnings before deductions for interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) are reached.

Another new covenant was added regarded minimum required levels of EBITDA, which grow over the next two years. As of March 27, the company must achieve $1 million of EBITDA; $5 million, by June 26; and $10 million by Sept. 25 and fiscal quarter afterwards.

The latest amendment also tightened financial reporting requirements Read the rest of this entry »

NeoMagic’s chief financial officer, Steven Berry, decided to throw in the towel, notifying the company a few days before Christmas that he intends to quit as of Jan. 9, according to a filing Monday.

NeoMagic, a Santa Clara chip maker, had the dubious distinction of being the Silicon Valley company with the biggest drop in its share price in 2008 (it virtually lost all of its value, dropping from $3.11 at the beginning of the year to a penny as of Dec. 31)

Berry lasted about a year and a half in the position, having joined NeoMagic in August 2007 from Sipex. No word on any termination benefits Berry might receive. If he quit “for good reason” he would be eligible for six months of sNeoalary, a year of company-paid health coverage, and vesting of his options. Not that that last item means much right now. The option for 85,000 shares he was granted when he started was priced at $3.53.

Among the “aggresive” actions announced by Spansion last October, when it reported a two percent drop in sales through the first three quarters of 2008 compared to the same period the year before, along with a 50 percent increase in the size of its net loss, were unspecified “salary reductions.”

Pay reductions for the company’s chief executive and other top officers could be Read the rest of this entry »

Seagate Technology said Wednesday that it will have to take an impairment charge to write down the value of its goodwill, “largely as a result of the adverse impact of the current macroeconomic business environment on the Company’s long-term financial outlook,” according to a filing with the SEC.

In addition to the value of its goodwill — which is generally understood to represent “the value of a well-respected business name, good customer relations, high employee morale, and other such factors expected to translate into Read the rest of this entry »

Actel announced that Chief Financial Officer Jon Anderson 9pictured) died unexpectedly Monday from complications following a recent hospitalization, according to a press release the company put out Wednesday. He was 50 years old.

Anderson joined Actel in 1998 as controller and had been CFO since August 2001. From 1987 until joining Actel, he worked at National Semiconductor, ending his time there as director of dinance for its local area networks division. He served as Read the rest of this entry »

Two more Silicon Valley companies joined the ranks of those offering to exchange some of their employees underwater options with options repriced at more current market rates. On Friday, Smart Modular, the Fremont maker of electronic subsystems, filed its preliminary proxy, which included a proposal to reprice options for its employees — those that are left after the company finishes laying off the 19 percent of its workforce that it said it would back in September.

Under Smart Modular’s proposal, certain employees would be permitted to exchange options with an exercise price higher than Read the rest of this entry »

This shouldn’t come as any surprise, but venture capitalists are forecasting a “difficult 2009″ for their industry and for capital markets in general, not to mention the national economy, according to a press release today from the National Venture Capital Association.

Ninety-two percent of venture capitalists surveyed by the group are predicting a Read the rest of this entry »

Just a little over a week ago, I wrote about “The three valley companies most vulnerable in 2009.” My three top picks were Sun Microsystems, AMD and Palm.

I haven’t changed by mind on Palm’s outlook. But on Monday, the company announced that it raised $100 million from Elevation Partners, one of its main backers.

According to the press release:

“The additional capital from Elevation Partners will enable us to put added momentum behind the new product introductions scheduled for 2009 and will provide us with enhanced stability in unsettled economic times,” said Ed Colligan, president and chief executive officer of Palm, Inc. “Elevation has been a great partner to Palm, and we appreciate their continued confidence and support.” Read the rest of this entry »

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The U.S. Department of Labor sued Power & Data Technology, a defunct San Jose manufacturer of electrical components, and its president, Gilroy resident Michael Williams, to recover and distribute $39,325 in assets remaining in the company’s abandoned 401(k) profit-sharing plan, according to a release.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that the company and Williams violated the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) when they abandoned the 401(k) plan after the company ceased doing business in June 2001.   As a result, 13 former employees have been unable to access their plan accounts.

The suit seeks to restore the losses to the plan that resulted from mismanagement and the misuse of $39,325 in plan assets, as well as to release an additional $20,208 in remaining plan assets.  The suit also seeks to remove Williams as plan fiduciary, permanently bar him from service to plans governed by ERISA in the future and appoint an independent fiduciary to manage the plan.

Cypress Semiconductor finally got the $10.3 million it had invested in money market funds with the American Beacon Fund, according to a Friday filing.  In September the San Jose chip maker disclosed that the fund had frozen following a “significant increase in redemption orders.”

Not that Cypress was in any immediate need of the funds. As of Sept. 30, the company reported having about $628 million in cash and short-term investments. By the way, that roughly $30 million more than the entire company was valued by Wall Street at the close of trading last Friday.

No wonder its chief executive, TJ Rodgers, has been buying its shares.