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Corel, PC Chips in deal
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March 30, 1999: 12:40 p.m. ET
WordPerfect maker to bundle products with PC motherboard manufacturer
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Corel Corp., maker of the WordPerfect suite of business tools, said Tuesday it is entering a strategic alliance with personal-computer motherboard manufacturer PC Chips Group of Cos.
Under the terms of the alliance, Corel's WordPerfect Suite 8 will be bundled and shipped with every PC Chips motherboard and low-cost PC, which total roughly 18 million annually to over 30 countries.
The value of the deal was not disclosed.
"This is a phenomenal opportunity which will significantly increase the penetration of our WordPerfect productivity applications around the world," said Michael Cowpland, president and CEO of Corel (COSFF).
PC Chips Group of Cos. manufactures hardware under several names, including 3D Micro, ECS, Astral, Protac and Asia Gate. Its competitors include Compaq, IBM, Dell and Hewlett-Packard.
In addition to WordPerfect, Corel, based in Ottawa, Canada, also manufactures graphics applications such as CorelDRAW. Its products are developed for the most commonly used computer platforms, such as Windows, Macintosh, UNIX, Linux and Java.
The company experienced some steep earnings losses in 1998, when revenue for the year declined 5 percent, and it slipped back into the red for the first quarter of 1999, after reporting a profit in the fourth quarter. Its stock, which trades on the Nasdaq, has suffered as well. Currently it is trading about 30 percent below its 52-week high.
The news prompted a surge in Corel shares trading in Toronto. They jumped C$1.11 to C$5.65. By midday on the Nasdaq, where Corel also trades, the stock was up 3/4 at 3-3/4. 
-- from staff and wire reports
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