Late News (6 August)

• Viglen Technology, spun off from Amstrad, made its debut on the UK Stock Exchange on 4 August. It launched with a share price of 72.5p, but slipped by five points to 67.5p, closing at 64.5p. This disappointing start has prompted Amstrad chairman Alan Sugar to withhold the sale of a 20 per cent stake in Viglen until ?the foreseeable future?.
• BT has tried to renegotiate its acquisition of MCI following a warning by the US group that it could lose $800 million on its expansion into the US local telephone market. Douglas Maine, MCI CFO, is expected to give a progress report on the company?s talks with BT.
• Microsoft will not undergo an anti-trust investigation by the Federal Trade Commission as the agency has declined a request from a trio of Republican senators who claimed the Department of Justice was not doing its job.
• John Pirie, sales and operations director at Eidos, is understood to be moving to GT Interactive as European MD. He will report to chairman Frank Herman. The move is expected to be announced later this week.
• Iomega is suing Syquest for allegedly copying technology from its Jaz and Zip drives and illegally using its Jet trademark. Syquest CEO Ed Harper said the suit was ?without merit?.
• Merisel shareholders are suing Stonington Partners, which intended to inject $152 million into the US distributor, for interfering with its alternative recovery plan. The Merisel Ad Hoc Noteholders? Committee was to obtain a large, unspecified stake in Merisel in exchange for bailing the firm out, but Stonington?s investment will leave the committee?s influence unchanged while it nets a 70 per cent stake.
• A mystery institutional buyer has snapped up 1.4 per cent of Dixons? stock, paying 600p per share.