SwingTrade Member Forum

[COLEMASTERJONES]

EXBT..has anyone seen this news from today.????


(COMTEX) B: Boulder, Colo., Data Storage Tech Company Gets $20 Million Investment ( Daily Camera - Knight Ridder/Tribune Busines
B: Boulder, Colo., Data Storage Tech Company Gets $20 Million Investment ( Daily
Camera - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News )

Nov 11, 2003 (Daily Camera - Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News via COMTEX) --
Imation Corp. announced plans Monday to invest $20 million into Exabyte Corp., a
Boulder-based data storage technology maker that has struggled to turn itself
around during the past five years.

In return, the billion-dollar, Oakdale, Minn.-based optical disc and storage
tape maker will receive an ownership stake of less than 5 percent in Exabyte,
plus exclusive global marketing rights to sell Exabyte's tape cartridges.

Imation (NYSE: IMN, $34.53) says it likes Exabyte's young, VXA-based storage
technology -- lower-priced lines of drives, libraries and accompanying
cartridges aiming to replace aging digital data storage devices.

Companies buy such technology for storing, backing up and accessing massive
amounts of data. For instance, IBM Corp. recently chose Exabyte's VXA-2 for its
pSeries, iSeries and xSeries of storage servers it sells to businesses, which
also drew Imation's attention.

"We think the technology is very sound," said James Ellis, Imation's director of
business strategy.

Exabyte has made strides to right itself, Ellis added, and Imation believes the
cash infusion will aid a turnaround the company is poised to make.

Imation's investment further validates the company's technology, and reinforces
Exabyte's long-term outlook by bolstering its balance sheet, said Tom Ward,
Exabyte's president and chief executive officer.

"From a cash-flow standpoint, we're cash-flow positive. We don't need this money
from an operational standpoint," he said. "But it does send a strong message
that we're going to be here a long time."

The 18-year-old Exabyte (OTCBB: EXBT, 69 cents) hasn't posted a profit since
October 1998. Since then, it has shed nearly 1,100 local jobs -- including about
50 in July -- while trying to turn things around. It now employs about 190
people in Boulder and 60 more worldwide.

About 46 percent of Exabyte's sales come from the tape cartridges that Imation
now will sell. Through the first nine months of 2003, Exabyte posted about $32
million in media sales; at the same point a year ago, it posted about $52.3
million in media sales.

Last Friday, Exabyte reported a net loss of $12.6 million, or 17 cents a share,
on sales of $24.6 million. During the same year-ago period, the company lost
$1.24 million, or 10 cents a share, on sales of $36.9 million.


By Matt Branaugh
To see more of the Daily Camera, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to
http://www.thedailycamera.com.

(c) 2003, Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune
Business News.

-0-



*** end of story ***