Polaroid files for bankruptcy
Polaroid Corp. (Cambridge, MA) and its US subsidiaries have filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the US bankruptcy code, following the recent steep decline in its revenues and the resulting impact on its liquidity. Polaroid intends to restructure its business operations and finances and is still open and conducting business. The company's non-US subsidiaries are not part of the filing. To address immediate liquidity concerns, Polaroid obtained $50 million in a financing operation led by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., $40 million of which will be used to supplement the company's existing cash flow and help Polaroid operate its business and pay suppliers, vendors, and other business partners for goods and services provided on or after the filing. Polaroid is exploring a possible sale of all or parts of the company and has initiated a thorough evaluation of all aspects of its business operations.
ZBD Displays gets £2-million second round of funding
ZBD Displays (Malvern, England) has completed its second round of fundraising, which totals £2 million (US$2.85 million). The money will be used to build a prototype of ZBD's ultralow-power liquid-crystal display (LCD). Since its spin-off in July 2000, ZBD has made significant technical progress toward the commercialization of its new LCD, from the initial 1-in. proof of concept, to a 3-in. demonstrator with 75 dots-per-inch resolution, to a recently completed high-resolution 7-in. display with 200 dots-per-inch resolution. Plans are in place to construct a cleanroom for technology, process, and product development and to choose partners for manufacturing and commercialization, says Henri-Luc Martin, chief operating officer.
PerkinElmer settles with IRS
PerkinElmer Inc. (Boston, MA) has announced the resolution of its US Tax Court case with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The case, brought by the IRS in 1995, involved accounting for gains and intercompany pricing from 1985 through 1994 by the company formerly known as EG&G. The IRS had proposed additional taxes of $74 million plus interest. The settlement, however, actually awards a small refund to PerkinElmer and eliminates all outstanding disputes with the IRS.
Delsy licenses Shellcase technology for sensor
Shellcase (Jerusalem, Israel), a developer of wafer-level chip-size packaging, has announced that Delsy Electronic Components AG (Birkenfeld, Germany), a developer of highly-integrated fingerprint sensors, has licensed its technology to design a unique complementary metal-oxide semiconductor sensor using a fiberoptic faceplate. The fingerprint sensor module, which acts as an alternative to smart cards, admission codes, and personal identification numbers, should reach production by the first quarter of 2002. Applications include intellectual-technology security, electronic commerce, automotive, firearm, and access control settings.
Three-Five joins Taiwan consortium
The Taiwan LCoS Microdisplay Consortium—sponsored by United Microelectronics Corp. (Taipei, Taiwan)—has accepted Three-Five Systems Inc. (Tempe, AZ) as a member. The consortium was formed to advance liquid-crystal-on-silicon (LCoS) microdisplay technology and establish technical standards. Other member companies include Acer, Aurora, Unipac, Konka, Otoma, Skyworth, Prokia, and K-Laser. Each company offers a particular expertise related to LCoS technology, including optics, light and color management, manufacturing, and systems design.
Also in the news . . .
Photon Vision Systems (Homer, NY) opened its new $4.6-million, 11,500-sq-ft corporate headquarters. . . . II-VI Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA) completed delivery of cadmium zinc telluride radiation detectors for the NASA Swift gamma-ray-detection satellite to be launched in 2003. . . . DuPont Displays (Wilmington, DE) took a minority equity stake in light-emitting-polymer (LEP) developer Cambridge Display Technology (Cambridge, England) to help commercialize LEPs in the organic-light-emitting-diode display market.
John Wallace