SiliconBeat

PlanetOut, the online media company serving the lesbian and gay community through its Web sites Gay.com and PlanetOut.com, has a new majority shareholders, based on a filing made today by New York investors Austin Marxe and David Greenhouse. They are the controlling principals of AWM Investment, two of whose funds now control 1.03 million shares, or 25.2 percent of PlanetOut’s stock.

They bought more than half of their stake on March 12, paying just Read the rest of this entry »

Intel grabbed headlines today announcing its first-ever option exchange program that helped balance its implementation of an across-the-board salary freeze. But joining Intel today in announcing a plan to reprice employee stock option plan was NetApp, the Sunnyvale provider of network storage appliances, which is asking its shareholders to vote on a plan to reprice options with exercise prices of $22 or higher.

In its argument in favor of the measure, NetApp’s board said that Read the rest of this entry »

Blockbuster delayed the filing of its annual 10-K report with the Securities and Exchange Commission as it seeks ways to refinance its debt to replace its current credit agreement that expires in August, and with it its access to $300 million in credit.

“The substantial time and resources dedicated to the refinancing negotiations” by Blockbuster’s management and financial staff has caused the company Read the rest of this entry »

Paul Holland, a partner with Foundation Capital and a board member of Serious Materials, a maker of green construction materials, got a rare honor this morning. He introduced President Obama to a gathering of 120 cleantech leaders in Washington.

(Yes, I know, Obama needs no introduction, especially to the green crowd who fully expect to capitalize on his commitment to renewable energy and energy efficiency.)

Still, Holland chose his words carefully.

He first spoke of Serious Materials’ highly insulated windows and Ecorock, its green drywall product. He then mentioned the company recently purchased and re-opened a shuttered window company in Pennsylvania.

He also spoke about the role of venture capitalists — and the federal government.

“Over the last 30 years, venture capital-funded companies as diverse as Amazon and Cisco, Google and Microsoft, and Intel and Netflix have employed tens of millions of Americans in high paying, rewarding jobs,” he said. “Simply put, many of these companies would not be where they are today—beginning the reinvention and reinvigoration of American business and American manufacturing—were it not for progressive federal policies such as the Federal R&D Tax Credit and the Stimulus Package.”

Then, after saying U.S. businesses would be at a major disadvantage globally without the Federal R&D tax credit, he welcomed President Obama to the stage.

Oracle shareholders got a pleasant surprise this week when the Redwood City software giant said it would begin paying its first ever dividend. One shareholder in particular was no doubt especially pleased, though probably not surprised: Oracle founder and chief executive, Larry  Ellison, who sits on the board and is also its largest stockholder.

When his company makes its first quarterly dividend payment of 5 cents per share on May 8, Ellison’s payment will amount to Read the rest of this entry »

Shares of Electroglas, the San Jose maker of chip manufacturing equipment that is struggling to stay afloat during the worst downturn ever for chip makers and the company’s that serve them, will no longer be traded on Nasdaq as of Monday morning.

The delisting follows the withdrawal by the company of its Read the rest of this entry »

Aviza Technology reported today that Robert Anderson resigned from its board of directors Monday “due to certain health concerns,” and not because of any disagreement with the company over its operations, policies or practices.

Anderson, 71, has served on Aviza’s board since Read the rest of this entry »

It is said that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, but free rent? That appears to be what Smart Modular Technologies will get when it moves its executive offices from Fremont to space it recently leased in Newark at 39870 Eureka Drive. The seven-year deal is set to begin May 1, according to a filing with the SEC today.

The maker of chips used for data storage, which has gone through two rounds of layoffs in the last six months, seems to be getting a sweet deal, even without Read the rest of this entry »

OptiSolar, a once-promising builder of solar power plants, continued its recent spate of bad news.

The company, which had an agreement with PG&E to build a solar power plant in San Luis Obispo County, had a first-round of layoffs and then said it had sold its entire portfolio of planned power plants to First Solar in a deal worth $400 million in stock. It has trouble raising funds and getting financing to see its plans through.

This week, according to spokesman Alan Bernheimer, another 200 employees lost their jobs; now, fewer than 100 remain.

“The remaining employees (in Hayward and Sacramento) are securing the production lines, continuing some R&D activities, supporting the completion of the First Solar transacation, and continuing to seek a buyer,” Berhheimer said via an e-mail.

Pat House resigned Wednesday as a director on the board of Shutterfly to devote herself to a unnamed private software company she co-founded and where she will serve as chief executive. Her departure leaves holes in the boards compensation committee, which she chaired, as well its audit committee, on which she served. Read the rest of this entry »