Mountain View, California, March 2 (Bloomberg) -- Silicon Graphics Inc., the No. 4 maker of computer workstations, agreed to sell its Cray supercomputer business to scientific-computer maker Tera Computer Co. for stock, cash and notes.
The price wasn't disclosed. Terra, whose computers are used for scientific and engineering applications, is acquiring a business that will have more than $200 million in annual revenue and about 900 employees. Cray's customers include weather-forecasting centers, government agencies and aerospace companies.Silicon Graphics in August said it planned to sell Cray and eliminate as many as 1,500 jobs in an effort to cut costs and improve sagging results. At the time, it said it wanted to focus instead on computers that distribute video across the Internet. Some reports said Cray, which Silicon Graphics bought for $740 million in 1996, was being sold for less than $100 million.
Mountain View, California-based Silicon Graphics rose 5/16 to 10 1/8 yesterday. Its shares have fallen 35 percent over the past year. Tera, based in Seattle, rose 3 3/16 to 11. Before yesterday's gain, its shares rose 34 percent over the past 12 months.