Atari Shares Plunge as Fremed Walks

Atari crisis as CFO makes shock departure.

Posted by Staff
Atari is in the midst of a minor crisis this morning as it tries to cope with the resignation of Chief Financial Officer David Fremed.

No official statement has been released by the company at this time to explain the specifics of Fremed’s departure, other than to state senior vice president Harry Rubin will fill the role until a replacement is found.

Atari lost almost 8% in share value at close of business yesterday in the US, on the back of the news.
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Comments

dyne 24 Feb 2004 11:56
1/5
I'm sure they'll survive.

8% is a big loss, but they'll get some of it back when people realise it's just an over-reaction on the stock market.
SPInGSPOnG 24 Feb 2004 12:03
2/5
>I'm sure they'll survive.
>
>8% is a big loss, but they'll get some of it back
>when people realise it's just an over-reaction on
>the stock market.

I'm not so sure.

I mean, we all get moist eyed with nostalgia when anyone mentions Atari. But remember, behind the emotive name, they are just the big nasty Infogrames, a company that expanded "at all costs" during the new media boom, swallowing important companies like Gremlin and Ocean, and totally subsuming their identities. These labels had fans, and goodwill, and would have been a valuable addition to their portfolio had Infograes not been so power mad.

We all want Atari to survive and do well, but do Inforgrames really deserve to?
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dyne 24 Feb 2004 12:24
3/5
Rod Todd wrote:

>I'm not so sure.
>
>I mean, we all get moist eyed with nostalgia when
>anyone mentions Atari. But remember, behind the
>emotive name, they are just the big nasty
>Infogrames, a company that expanded "at all
>costs" during the new media boom, swallowing
>important companies like Gremlin and Ocean, and
>totally subsuming their identities. These labels
>had fans, and goodwill, and would have been a
>valuable addition to their portfolio had
>Infograes not been so power mad.
>
>We all want Atari to survive and do well, but do
>Inforgrames really deserve to?

Yeah, I didn't like Infogrames at all, and I do think they've ruined the Atari name in some respects.

But they have had a steady stream of popular games over the last year.
sue_raas 24 Feb 2004 12:31
4/5
These days Atari's just a logo on a hipster's tee shirt (or on the roof of the main stand at Brentford FC). Infogrames took away any meaning it had. There's no soul, and most of their games are s**t.
TigerUppercut 25 Feb 2004 10:46
5/5
>I mean, we all get moist eyed with nostalgia when
>anyone mentions Atari. But remember, behind the
>emotive name, they are just the big nasty
>Infogrames, a company that expanded "at all
>costs" during the new media boom, swallowing
>important companies like Gremlin and Ocean, and
>totally subsuming their identities. These labels
>had fans, and goodwill, and would have been a
>valuable addition to their portfolio had
>Infograes not been so power mad.
>
>We all want Atari to survive and do well, but do
>Inforgrames really deserve to?

Exactly. It's also worth remembering that they are now completely alone. The jump to Atari saw them f**k the French government and negate any need to pay back all the money borrowed for the expansion (That cost 100s of UK development and publishing jobs) So if they need any help, I can't see investors being over-keen. And is it only me that is *amazed* the Bonell is still in place?
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