March 10, 1997 1:45 PM ET
National Semi buys supplier of MPEG decoders
By Margaret Kane

National Semiconductor Corp. announced today it has agreed to acquire a manufacturer of MPEG audio/video decoders in a deal worth almost $100 million. Company officials said the acquisition of Mediamatics Inc., of Fremont, Calif., will help National Semiconductor enter the field of digital videodisk players and set-top boxes. Under the terms of the deal, National will acquire 100 percent of Mediamatics' stock in exchange for 3.4 million shares of its own stock, which closed at $29.37 per share Friday. The deal has been approved by National's board of directors and is expected to be completed this month. "Mediamatics provides us with three key components of our system-on-a-chip strategy: world-class MPEG expertise in balanced hardware/software, systems know-how and its home connectivity building-block intellectual property," said National CEO Brian Halla in a statement. Mediamatics will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of National Semiconductor, and Mediamatics President Prem Nath will serve as president of the new subsidiary. National Semiconductor is based in Santa Clara, Calif. Copyright(c) 1997 Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company is prohibited. PC Week and the PC Week logo are trademarks of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. PC Week Online and the PC Week Online logo are trademarks of Ziff-Davis Publishing Company. Send mail to PC Week