Emulex

The bitter takeover battle between two Southern California technology companies ended Thursday when Broadcom Corp. said it was abandoning its $912-million hostile bid for Emulex Corp. -- at least for now. Broadcom Chief Executive Scott A. McGregor, who only two weeks ago sweetened his offer by 20%, said the Irvine network chip maker will now pursue "other value-creating alternatives."

Emulex Corp. signed an agreement with Tokyo Electron Ltd. to market and distribute Emulex's Fibre Channel, a high-speed local communications network, in Japan. An Emulex spokesman said the agreement is for one year, with an option to renew.

Shares of Emulex Corp. (ticker symbol: EMLX), which have risen sharply over the last year, plunged 26% on Tuesday after a Wall Street analyst warned that the firm's own progeny poses a threat to its market share. Costa Mesa-based Emulex tumbled $57.14 to $160.92, carving about $2 billion from its market value. The stock had just recently rebounded after sinking in the general Nasdaq selloff early in March.

Emulex Corp., the Costa Mesa maker of high-speed data storage products, said it has opened an engineering design center in Longmont, Colo. The new facility houses an independent engineering team including software and hardware, as well as a staff for testing and quality assurance programs, the company said.

Emulex Corp., a Costa Mesa storage networking company, said Thursday it has completed its acquisition of Giganet Inc. for stock worth about $247.6 million, based on Thursday's closing price. Emulex said in a news release that 800,000 shares of the total amount issued or reserved for issuance will be held in escrow under terms of the agreement with the San Jose developer of Internet-based storage networking equipment. Emulex stock gained 14 cents Thursday to close at $30.95 a share on Nasdaq.

Kenneth Davis has joined Costa Mesa-based Emulex Corp. as president and general manager of its new Emulex Micro Devices division. Davis is the former assistant vice president, worldwide marketing and sales for NCR Corp.'s microelectronics division. Before joining NCR in 1985, Davis had been vice president of marketing and sales for Integrated Logic Systems Inc. He previously held management positions in engineering and marketing with Computer Automation, ITT Semiconductors, Mostek Corp.

Costa Mesa-based Emulex Corp. will split its stock at the end of this month, the company announced Monday, shortly after rival and neighbor QLogic Corp. put its stock split into effect. Emulex, which develops high-speed computer networking products, has seen its stock rise 170% this year. It closed Monday at $108, down $4.63 a share. The 2-for-1 split is payable Aug. 30 to shareholders of record Aug. 16, the company said. The company will double its shares outstanding to 17 million.

Costa Mesa-based Emulex Corp. said Monday it will begin repurchasing as much as 15%, or 2 million shares, of its outstanding common stock because of its current "depressed value." The price of the computer parts manufacturer's stock in over-the-counter trading has declined over the last two years as the company has fought a legal battle with Digital Equipment Corp., a Costa Mesa competitor, over trade secrets and patent infringement, said Michael J. Lewis, Emulex's chief financial officer.

Emulex Corp., a Costa Mesa storage networking company, said Thursday that it intends to acquire a privately held developer of Internet-based storage networking equipment for stock worth about $645 million. The purchase of Concord, Mass.-based Giganet Inc. for about 4 million shares and options would give Emulex a new technology to complement its fiber-channel technology, used in products to connect computer networks to data-storage files.

Handily beating Wall Street analysts' expectations, Costa Mesa-based Emulex Corp. on Thursday said it earned $3 million, or 39 cents a share, in the fiscal fourth quarter, compared with $200,000, or 3 cents a share, in the same period last year. Emulex, which develops high-speed computer networking products, had been expected to earn 29 cents a share, according to a survey of analysts by First Call Corp. Sales for the three months ended June 27 increased 46% to $20.5 million.