Fractal Design Corp

Aiming to create a new powerhouse in visual design software, Carpinteria-based MetaTools Inc. said Tuesday that it will acquire Fractal Design Corp. for about $145 million in stock. The merged company, with combined revenue of more than $65 million for 1996, would offer a broad range of products for the consumer and professional photography and video markets, digital imaging, animation and computer graphics.

Aiming to create a new powerhouse in visual design software, Carpinteria-based MetaTools Inc. said Tuesday that it will acquire Fractal Design Corp. for about $145 million in stock. The merged company, with combined revenue of more than $65 million for 1996, would offer a broad range of products for the consumer and professional photography and video markets, digital imaging, animation and computer graphics.

MetaTools Inc. said it completed its takeover of Fractal Design Corp. The Carpinteria-based maker of software for manipulating images on computers said the addition of Fractal Design will help it expand its business of selling graphics software to the print and electronic publishing and video entertainment industries. A $9-million charge reflecting costs relating to the takeover will be taken for the second quarter. The merged entity has been renamed MetaCreations Corp.

Companies with sales between $10 million and $50 million are ranked by percentage increase in 1996 sales. The Sales Growth 100 list on Page 31 measures companies with sales above $50 million. *--* Rank Company 1996 sales 1996 (millions) % change 1 SmarTalk TeleServices $15 3209% 2 NetVantage Inc. 27 1,923 3 BroadVision Inc. 11 1,915 4 Triathlon Broadcasting Co. 19 1,611 5 Sequus Pharmaceuticals 33 1,533 6 Infoseek Corp. 15 1,363 7 Gilead Sciences Inc. 33 821 8 Yahoo! Inc.

In many ways, Kai Krause is a throwback to the early days of the personal computer revolution, when the joy of creating digital magic tricks was a little less adulterated by the demands of big business. Tall and thin, with long blond hair, a walrus mustache and a slight accent that betrays his German roots, he revels in being "my own best geek," developing software that satisfies his own sensibility, and assuming that others will like it too.