Graphix Zone Company

Multimedia companies Graphix Zone Inc. and StarPress Inc. said Thursday that they have signed a definite agreement to merge through an exchange of stock. Under terms of the deal, StarPress shareholders will receive about 0.15 shares of Graphix Zone company stock for each share of StarPress stock. StarPress, a San Francisco-based developer of reference CD-ROMs, will own 54% of the combined company, but will take Graphix Zone's name and operate at Graphix Zone's headquarters in Irvine.

Longtime computer industry executives Charles R. Cortright and Angela Aber have joined privately held Internet technologies developer U&I Interactive in top executive posts, the company said Thursday. Cortright will be president and chief executive while Aber will be senior vice president for marketing. The couple co-founded entertainment CD-ROM publisher Graphix Zone Inc. in Irvine in 1989. They resigned in November 1996 as the company was racking up a series of quarterly losses.

The husband-wife founders of Graphix Zone Inc. resigned their management positions with the company on Tuesday, giving up control of a firm known for producing CD-ROMs featuring Bob Dylan and other famous entertainers, while losing millions of dollars in recent years. Charles R. Cortright and Angela Aber, who started the Irvine-based company in 1989, gave up their respective positions as chief executive and executive vice president.

Ignite Inc., the software company formerly known as Graphix Zone Inc., said it has been informed that Nasdaq stock market officials are investigating heavy trading of the company's stock in recent days. More than 3 million shares of the company's stock have changed hands over the past three trading days. Average trading volume for the past year has been about 100,000 shares.

The Graphix Zone, a multimedia company best known for making an interactive music compact disc for the singer formerly known as Prince, raised $3.9 million Friday in an initial public offering. The company issued 1.2 million shares at $3.25 a share on Nasdaq. Cruttenden & Co., an Irvine-based investment bank, managed the underwriting. Some portion of the money raised goes to the underwriters; the rest will be used as working capital.

Graphix Zone, an Irvine-based publisher of multimedia software, said its products will soon be available in mass merchandise stores such as Wal-Mart and Target through an exclusive distribution deal with GT Interactive Software Corp. As part of the deal, GT Interactive also received warrants to purchase up to 800,000 shares of Graphix Zone common stock.

Graphix Zone Inc., which makes and sells entertainment CD-ROMs, said Monday that it has raised approximately $2.5 million through a private equity offering of 2,525 shares of convertible preferred stock.

. . . Interactive entertainment and music products publisher Graphix Zone Inc. says it doesn't think Wall Street knows enough about it--so the fast-growing company, headquartered in Irvine, has hired New York investor relations firm KCSA to "actively court the investment community," Graphix Chairman Ron Posner says. Graphix went public in June 1994 at $3.25 a share, the stock climbed to a high of $11.50 a year ago, but by Friday had fallen to $4.125 in Nasdaq trading.

Graphix Zone Inc. narrowed its losses in the fiscal third quarter as sales soared 78%. The interactive multimedia products company reported a net loss of $1.4 million, or 29 cents a share, for the quarter ended March 31, compared with a year-earlier net loss of $2.6 million, or 69 cents a share. Sales increased to $578,282 from $324,129. For the nine months, the company posted a net loss of $4.3 million, or $1.11 a share, compared with a loss of $2 million, or 80 cents a share, a year ago.

Graphix Zone Inc. always seemed to have the ingredients for success. The Irvine company was there for the start of the multimedia boom, had the promising idea of making interactive CD-ROMs for music fans, and was able to ink deals with major stars including Bob Dylan and the artist formerly known as Prince. So why was it such a bust that the company last week decided to lay off one-third of its work force, change the company name and abandon its core business?

In a desperate corporate overhaul, Graphix Zone Inc. said Thursday it will abandon its core business of interactive music CD-ROMs, lay off 25 employees, close three offices and change the company name. The struggling company is best known as a publisher of multimedia CD-ROMs featuring performers such as Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson, but said that it hopes to rebuild itself as a publisher of computer games.

In a desperate corporate overhaul, Graphix Zone Inc. said it will abandon its core business of interactive music CD-ROMs, lay off 25 of its 70 employees and close three offices. The struggling Irvine-based company is best known as a publisher of multimedia CD-ROMs featuring performers such as Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson, but said that it hopes to rebuild itself as a publisher of computer games.

Graphix Zone Inc., which makes and sells entertainment CD-ROMs, said Monday that it has raised approximately $2.5 million through a private equity offering of 2,525 shares of convertible preferred stock.

The husband-wife founders of Graphix Zone Inc. resigned their management positions with the company on Tuesday, giving up control of a firm known for producing CD-ROMs featuring Bob Dylan and other famous entertainers, while losing millions of dollars in recent years. Charles R. Cortright and Angela Aber, who started the Irvine-based company in 1989, gave up their respective positions as chief executive and executive vice president.

. . . Interactive entertainment and music products publisher Graphix Zone Inc. says it doesn't think Wall Street knows enough about it--so the fast-growing company, headquartered in Irvine, has hired New York investor relations firm KCSA to "actively court the investment community," Graphix Chairman Ron Posner says. Graphix went public in June 1994 at $3.25 a share, the stock climbed to a high of $11.50 a year ago, but by Friday had fallen to $4.125 in Nasdaq trading.

The Graphix Zone Inc., an Irvine interactive multimedia products and services company, reported a net loss of $294,409, or 12 cents a share, for the third fiscal quarter, compared with a net loss of $207,649, or 12 cents a share, for the like period a year ago. Revenue for the quarter that ended March 31 rose to $1.7 million from $325,326. For the nine-month period, the company recorded a net loss of $1.

Richard Nixon's audiotapes were pretty interesting, but let's face it, they were recorded on yesterday's technology. This is the digital age, so Graphix Zone in Irvine figured it was about time to put our only president to take early retirement on CD-ROM. Graphix Zone, best known for making multimedia CD--ROMs that feature music stars such as Bob Dylan, is scheduled to release its latest production, "Nixon The CD-ROM," today, exactly 24 years after the Watergate break-in.

Graphix Zone Inc. narrowed its losses in the fiscal third quarter as sales soared 78%. The interactive multimedia products company reported a net loss of $1.4 million, or 29 cents a share, for the quarter ended March 31, compared with a year-earlier net loss of $2.6 million, or 69 cents a share. Sales increased to $578,282 from $324,129. For the nine months, the company posted a net loss of $4.3 million, or $1.11 a share, compared with a loss of $2 million, or 80 cents a share, a year ago.