Steve Wozniak Plays Jazz

Deals

from the in-the-chips dept

Back in March, Steve Wozniak gained a lot of attention for taking public a blank check company called Acquicor. Per its description as a blank check, investors in the company had no idea what Acquicor would invest its money in. In fact, Acquicor was just one of several such companies to go public this last year, ironically coinciding with a period of relative distaste for speculative companies. Well, eventually companies have to cash in the blank check. During what is already a busy week for Wozniak, with the release of his autobiography iWoz, Acquicor has announced the acquisition of Jazz Semiconductor, a specialty wafer foundry that had been considering its own IPO. So while Acquicor got a lot of hype when it came public, investors buying into the Woz aura are now owners of a chip company. That’s not necessarily bad thing, particularly if Jazz has a promising future, but considering all of the uncertainty — and potential downside — associated with a blank check, we wonder if Acquicor shareholders are getting what they expected.