Future Media Productions Announces Plan for IPO

Future Media Productions, a Valencia-based maker of CD-ROMs for computer and software companies, filed for an initial public offering that could raise $40.8 million after expenses.

The company was launched in 1994 by the three co-founders of Packard Bell NEC Inc., the inventor of the home PC. The three--Alex Sandel, Jason Barzilay and Beny Alagem, former chairman and chief executive of Packard Bell--each own a third of Future Media.

The company, which focused on producing CD-ROMs, said in its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it expects to begin producing DVDs next year, with some of the start-up funds coming from the IPO.