Yet again showing that Digital Equipment Corp is being forced to sell whatever will fetch a ready price, and at the same time shooting its much vaunted relationship with the Italian company full of holes, Ing C Olivetti & Co SpA confirmed that, as had been rumoured (CI No 2,482), DEC has sold its 98m Olivetti shares – at a thumping loss, raising in the region of $147m in the process. It had paid $300m for the shares, which it bought at a whacking premium to the price in the market. The shares represented an 8% stake in Olivetti. Olivetti told Reuter that the co-operation accord under which the Italian majors on the Alpha RISC and buys machines OEM from DEC would be reviewed, but gave no further details.
