Seattle Firm Will Acquire San Diego Software Publisher
Silicon Beach Software, a fast-growing San Diego software publisher, has signed a letter of intent to be acquired by Aldus Corp. of Seattle in an exchange of stock.
The precise terms of the proposed deal have not been determined, and officials at both companies declined to approximate the dollar value of the merger plan, which is “subject to a complete due diligence review by Aldus,” an Aldus statement said. Aldus plans to exchange its common stock for all outstanding common stock of Silicon Beach Software.
The transaction could make millionaires of Silicon Beach Software founders Charles and Hallie Jackson, the husband and wife team that in 1985 started the company with $10,000 in savings. The Jacksons and a third investor whom they declined to identify are the company’s sole shareholders.
Silicon Beach Software publishes a variety of products, but is best known as the maker of SuperPaint, a program that enables desktop publishers to “cut and paste” graphic designs in page layout. The company’s other big seller is SuperCard, a computer programming aid.
Charles Jackson, president of the company, said revenue in 1989 was about $10.7 million, up from $5 million the year before. Sales last year were spurred by the introduction of SuperCard, he said. Employees now total 80. Jackson, 41, said he plans to remain at the company for a while, but declined to discuss his long-term plans.
Silicon Beach Software is “a classic case of a successful start-up that has managed to succeed in areas where established companies have not been able to,” said Lawrence Magid, an independent computer analyst based in Woodside in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Aldus is best known as the inventor of PageMaker, a software package that helps personal-computer users integrate text and graphics. Along with Apple’s Macintosh personal computer, the program ushered in the age of desktop publishing, the means by which computer users design pages on their monitors by electronically manipulating text and graphics.
For the nine months ended Sept. 29, publicly owned Aldus reported a profit of $10.9 million on sales of $64.4 million.
In a statement, Aldus President Paul Brainerd said the acquisition “would significantly broaden Aldus’ Apple Macintosh-based product offerings, while expanding Silicon Beach’s ability to reach new markets through our extensive distribution system.” The company declined to elaborate on its reasons for the acquisition or its plans for Silicon Beach Software.
