SiliconBeat

Transmeta, the Santa Clara developer of semiconductor technology, said Wednesday afternoon that it “will now explore a possible sale” of the company. The move no doubt pleased its newest board member and largest shareholder, Bryant Riley, who gave up his proxy battle with the company in return for a board seat for himself and two others he agreed on with the company. Riley, who owns 12.1 percent of Transmeta’s shares, also agreed to limit any future accumulation of them to no more than 13 percent.

In January, Riley sued the company demanding “books and records” from it to investigate “potential wrongdoing, mismanagement, waste of corporate assets and breaches of fiduciary duties” by members of Transmeta’s board. The legal action was later dropped.

Riley was particularly incensed by a $10 million bonus the company said it would pay its general counsel “simply for doing his job and settling an intellectual property lawsuit against Intel ten months after it was filed, and likely settling for less money than was reasonable due to the incentive to settle,” according to an SEC filing.

Transmeta also announced that it had signed two agreements with Intel for the licensing of certain Transmeta technologies and intellectual property along with accelerated payment of its receivables from Intel, which will result in a one-time, non-refundable payment of $91.5 million before the quarter ends this month.

Transmeta also “invited” intetested parties to contact its financial advisor, whom it listed in the press release as Scott D. Weinstein of Piper Jaffray & Co.