Atmel: This Deal Is Doomed (at Motley Fool)

Great products aren't enough to save a troubled business. Atmel (Nasdaq: ATML) is learning this the hard way, as two rival semiconductor designers are set to tear the company apart and devour the choicest morsels. Microchip Technology (Nasdaq: MCHP) and ON Semiconductor (Nasdaq: ONNN) have launched a public and hostile bid for Atmel, looking to pay a total of $5 a share for the troubled chip maker. Five years of sluggish sales growth and fragile profit margins have tested the patience of Atmel's shareholders, and around a 14% price drop in those five years didn't help much, either. But like I said, the company sits on a solid technology portfolio and both of its prospective buyers plan to turn a profit from their new assets in the first year. ON wants Atmel's memory products to complement the pending acquisition of Catalyst... [read full story]