这是一个大鱼吃小鱼的年代，尤其是半导体行业。这不半导体行业巨头ST又把一个小兄弟Genesis给吞下去了，挺直了肚子进入消费电子市场 - $1.5Billion的数字电视市场。
在中国ST的机顶盒方案家喻户晓，击败了富士通、BroadCom以及若干其他的芯片供应商，我是没有赶上用ST的方案，无法对其成功之道进行评判了。
又是一家欧洲的公司用现金的方式收购美国的公司，2年前类似的一个模式导致欧洲公司收购到的是一个空壳 - 核心技术人员全部拿钱走人，再度创业，那些离开的兄弟们还嘲笑欧洲公司傻，因此当Infineon收购TI的ADSL业务的时候，大家的心态也比较自然了：Infineon图的也就是TI曾经打下来的市场，至于那些工程师，爱走就走。
不知道这桩生意的结果究竟如何，不过$336M的价值让我心目中Genesis的形象有点受损，才智这么点钱？

ST bolsters CE market position with $336M Genesis buy

By Ann Steffora Mutschler, Senior Editor -- Electronic News, 12/11/2007

To strengthens its position in the consumer electronics space, Geneva-based semiconductor giant STMicroelectronics announced today that it will acquire Santa Clara, Calif.-based image and video processing systems enabler Genesis Microchip Inc. for approximately $336 million in cash.

Thanks to this acquisition, ST said it expects to expand its leadership in the $1.5 billion digital TV market, one of the fastest growing segments in consumer electronics semiconductors, while Genesis is set to enhance ST’ technological capabilities for the transition to fully digital solutions in this segment by strengthening its product and IP portfolio.

Under terms of the agreement, ST will commence a cash tender offer to purchase all of the outstanding shares of Genesis for $8.65 per share, net to the holder in cash.

When the tender offer is complete, ST will complete a second-step merger in which any remaining common shares of Genesis will be converted into the right to receive the same per share price paid in the tender offer. Overall, the offer price represents a premium of 60 percent to Genesis’ closing share price on December 10 and 26 percent to the average closing share price during the last sixty trading days prior to this announcement.

During the 12 months ended September 30, Genesis reported revenues of $191 million with cash and cash equivalents along with short-term investments totaling approximately $183 million.

ST said it will finance the acquisition using existing cash on its balance sheet.

The acquisition has been approved by Genesis’ board of directors, which unanimously recommended that holders of Genesis’ common stock accept the tender offer and approve the second-step merger. ST expects to begin the tender offer no later than December 18.

The deals are expected to be completed in Q1 2008.

Philippe Lambinet, corporate VP and general manager of ST’s home entertainment and displays group said in a statement, “The combined company will have the products, technology, IP and expertise to offer best-in-class integrated DTV processing solutions that our customers are increasingly demanding. We also believe that the Genesis DisplayPort technology brings expanded opportunities to the PC and home entertainment markets.”

Elias Antoun, Genesis’ president and CEO added, “Joining forces with STMicroelectronics will put us in the best position to ensure that our products and technologies remain at the forefront of our industry. Our innovative technology, when combined with STMicroelectronics' resources, silicon design expertise and manufacturing capabilities can accelerate the delivery of the next generation of solutions for our digital television, flat-panel display and DisplayPort customer base.”

When the deal closes, Genesis will become part of ST’s home entertainment and displays group. Antoun will join ST and will lead the company’s television and display initiatives, reporting to Lambinet.

In other ST news, the company reported Monday that it has manufactured the first functional devices to be built using CMOS 45 nm radio frequency (RF) technology, which it says will be essential for next-generation wireless local area network applications.

Manufactured on 300-mm silicon wafers at Crolles, France, ST said the prototype SoC devices integrate a functional chain from the initial detection of the RF signal to the output of digital data ready for subsequent processing with these prototypes delivering state-of-the-art performance and density of only 0.45 square mm for the low noise amplifier, mixer, analog- digital converter and filtering working at 1.1V.