ATARI CORP. TO INTRODUCE IBM CLONE

Atari Corp. will plunge into the $11.7 billion market for IBM-compatible personal computers by introducing a $499 machine at the Consumer Electronics show today in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Atari computer, which one analyst called a low-cost alternative to other IBM-compatible personal computers, will have a 5 1/4-inch floppy disk drive and 512 kilobytes of internal memory, expandable to 640 kilobytes, according to an Atari spokesman. The $499 price does not include a monitor.

ATARI'S SALES SOAR 80% ON COMPUTERS, GAMES

Atari Corp.'s revenues soared in 1986 on strong sales of its personal computers and video game systems. The Sunnyvale company, which went public last year, reported preliminary fourth-quarter sales of $91 million, up 40 percent from $65 million in the same period a year earlier. Estimated annual sales rose 80 percent to $256 million in 1986 from $142 million in 1985. Atari did not give preliminary estimates of its profits.

ATARI DENIES DELAY IN COMPUTER SHIPMENT

Atari Corp. of Sunnyvale denied Wall Street rumours Wednesday that it would delay shipping its recently announced IBM- compatible personal computer. Gary Tramiel, a vice president of Atari, said the company still intends to ship the product in June or July. At one point Wednesday, Atari stock was down $4.25 a share, at $23.50, when trading was halted on the American Stock Exchange because of an imbalance of buy and sell orders. After trading resumed, Atari closed at $26.63 per share, down $1.13 per share,

VIDEO GAME, COMPUTER SALES GIVE ATARI'S PROFITS A BOOST

Atari Corp. of Sunnyvale, benefiting from robust sales of video games and computers this past Christmas, said Friday it earned $20.4 million on operations during its fourth quarter ended Dec. 31. That compares with $2.3 million in operating profits for the fourth quarter of 1985.

Net income for the fourth quarter totalled $23 million, or 87 cents a share, a 54 percent increase from earnings of $14.9 million, or 64 cents a share, during the fourth quarter of 1985. Atari had fourth-quarter sales of $92.

ATARI WANTS TO RAISE FUNDS

Atari Corp. has asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to approve a proposed public offering of $75 million in convertible subordinated debentures. Proceeds from the offering, which will be underwritten by Paine Webber Inc., will be used for working capital and acquisitions, the Sunnyvale- based maker of low-priced computers said. The filing comes four months after Atari raised $51 million in an initial public stock offering.

COMMODORE, ATARI SETTLE LEGAL BATTLE

Atari Corp. and Commodore International Ltd., rivals in the personal computer business, said Tuesday they settled their long-running litigation for undisclosed terms.  The litigation began in 1984 after a small Silicon Valley company called Amiga Inc. jilted Atari and began working with Commodore.

ATARI, COMMODORE SETTLE

Atari Corp. and Commodore International Ltd., rivals in the personal computer business, settled their long-running litigation over the Amiga computer for undisclosed terms. The litigation began in 1984 after a small Silicon Valley company called Amiga Inc. jilted Atari and began working with Commodore. Amiga developed the Commodore computer that bears the Amiga name, and Commodore acquired the company that year.

TRAMIEL FAN JOINS ATARI AS NEW EXEC

"I'm kind of a Jack Tramiel groupie," says J.J. "Jerry" Brown, Atari Corp.'s newest vice president and general manger of the Sunnyvale-based computer maker's U.S. operations.

In Brown, Tramiel, a controversial figure who has put Atari back in the black since purchasing it in 1984, lands a seasoned computer executive -- as well as a fan. "I think Jack is one of the great names in the computer industry."

ATARI TAKES AIM AT U.S. COMPUTER MARKET

Atari Corp. is trying to prove that a computer company can come home again. Atari concentrated on selling overseas when it introduced its first computers in 1985, but now the firm wants to bolster its tiny share of the U.S. computer market.

ATARI HASN'T PULLED THE PLUG ON GAMES

Atari is shedding its skin and turning into a personal computer company. But the change is hardly complete; last year, one of every three dollars Atari received in U.S. revenues came from the sale of video games.

That's a far cry from the early 1980s, when the video game boom made Atari one of America's fastest-growing companies. That bubble burst, leaving Atari scrambling to develop new products. Still, the firm's video game business is too large to abandon.

ATARI POSTS HIGHER EARNINGS

Atari Corp. of Sunnyvale reported Friday higher profits and sales for its first quarter ended April 4.  Its operating income was $11.9 million, up 160 percent from $4.6 million of the year-ago quarter. On a per-share basis, its operating income was 41 cents, up 116 percent from the 19 cents of the year-ago quarter.

ANATOMY OF A DEAL HOW FORD AEROSPACE WAS SOLD ON SAN JOSE HEADQUARTERS

Thanks to three out-of-towners, San Jose's biggest redevelopment flop has turned into one of its biggest successes.  But last fall, that flop -- the abandoned Atari complex in North San Jose -- was nothing but a humiliating problem for Los Angeles-based developer Lew Wolff. An $80 million, 546,000-square-foot problem.

LOYAL, PERSISTENT ATARI USERS TAKE THEIR COMPUTERS PERSONALLY

AT THE World of Atari show held recently at the Santa Clara Convention Centre, Atari users gathered to see new Atari products, talk with Atari executives and generally circle the wagons against users of the IBM Personal Computer and Apple Macintosh who so often attack them for their taste in personal computers.

Atari users are kind of a throwback to the days when using a personal computer was, well, more personal.

MUSICIANS UPBEAT ABOUT ATARI'S ST OVERTURES

Jack Tramiel in a rock band? To heat up sales, the rejuvenator of Atari Corp. probably would be happy to pick up an electric guitar. For the moment, he doesn't have to. Tramiel will settle for selling Atari's ST personal computer to musicians.  And musicians are buying. Unable to pry its way into big- name computer retailers, Atari is now targeting musical instrument stores to carry its low-priced computers.

ATARI GENERAL MANAGER REPORTEDLY QUITS COMPANY

J.J. "Jerry" Brown has left his position as Atari Corp.'s general manager of U.S. operations.  A veteran of International Business Machines Corp., Brown was Atari's point man in the Sunnyvale company's current assault on the American personal computer market.

ATARI'S REBOUND CONTINUES

Atari Corp., the Sunnyvale maker of personal computers and video games that has staged one of the computer industry's more spectacular comebacks over the past couple of years, reported Thursday higher profits and sales for its second quarter.

The company said net income for the quarter ending July 4 was $13.5 million, up 39 percent from $9.7 million for the same period last year. On a per-share basis, its net income was 23 cents, up only 5 percent from last year's 22 cents

ATARI BUYS FEDERATED ELECTRONICS STORES

Providing itself with a retail chain to sell its computers, Atari Corp. on Sunday agreed to buy the Federated Group Inc. for $67.3 million in cash.

The Sunnyvale-based maker of computers and video games is making its first major acquisition since Jack Tramiel, a home computer pioneer, bought the company from Warner Communications Inc. in 1984 and returned it to profitability.

ATARI TO PURCHASE CHAIN OF RETAIL STORES

Providing itself with a retail chain to sell its computers, Atari Corp. on Sunday agreed to buy the Federated Group for $67.3 million in cash.  The Sunnyvale-based maker of computers and video games is making its first major acquisition since Jack Tramiel bought the company from Warner Communications Inc. in 1984 and returned it to profitability

ATARI HOPES BUYING FEDERATED WILL BOOST SALES

Snubbed by big store chains, Atari Corp. will try to boost distribution of its personal computers by purchasing a retailer of its own.  Atari said late Sunday it will pay $67.3 million for Federated Group Inc., a money-losing Southern California retailer with 66 stores, including six in the Bay Area.

IN BRIEF

Atari Corp. announced Friday that it has commenced, through a subsidiary, a $6.25 per share cash tender offer for all outstanding shares of common stock of the Federated Group Inc.

TRAMIEL IS BUYING TROUBLE, SOME SAY

Once again, sceptics are questioning whether Jack Tramiel has overreached himself.  When he bought troubled Atari Corp. of Sunnyvale three years ago, observers thought Tramiel, the company's chairman, faced certain failure. Now, after reviving the maker of personal computers and video games and engineering a successful public offering, Tramiel has set his sights on forging a diversified consumer electronics firm.

ATARI EXTENDS TENDER OFFER

Atari Corp. of Sunnyvale announced a third extension of its tender offer for the Federated Group Inc.'s shares. The purpose of the further extension, which expired at midnight, was to allow Atari, Federated and Federated's bank lenders to complete documentation for the closing. To date, approximately 96 percent of outstanding shares of Federated have been validly tendered.

GLOBAL SALES BRIGHTEN THE OUTLOOK FOR ATARI

SUNNYVALE-based "Atari (NYSE, 6 1/2, 12-month range 4 7/ 8-16 1/4), one of the largest manufacturers of personal computers and video game systems in the world, is a highly attractive investment situation," says High Technology and Other Growth Stocks from Concord, Mass.  ''The company's strategy is to offer creative computer technologies at low prices.

IN BRIEF

Atari Corp. of Sunnyvale said Nintendo of America has sued Atari in San Jose's U.S. District Court for false and misleading advertising. Nintendo seeks to stop Atari from airing a commercial comparing video games made by the two firms.

ATARI HOPES VALLEY PLANT CAN BOOST SALES

ATARI CORP., after failing to improve its U.S. sales of personal computers this year, hopes that opening a small manufacturing plant in the area in early 1988 will give its domestic business a boost. The company, which this year will sell about 80 percent of its personal computers in Europe, plans to manufacture personal computers at a 100-person plant somewhere in Silicon Valley, Atari President Sam Tramiel said. Later next year, Atari will open a larger factory in either Texas or Nevada, he said.

IN BRIEF

U.S. District Court Judge Robert Aguilar ruled Tuesday that Atari Corp. of Sunnyvale could continue running its 30-second television commercial comparing its XE video game system with Nintendo's entertainment system.

ATARI REPORTS SEIZURE OF COUNTERFEITS

Atari Corp. of Sunnyvale said Monday that more than 2,000 counterfeit versions of one of its popular video game models have been seized by U.S. government officials in two raids on a Los Angeles warehouse this month.  U.S. Customs Service and agents of the U.S. Marshal were involved in the raids of the Los Angeles warehouse of PSD Inc. of Canoga Park, which netted counterfeit video games that Atari valued at $100,000 based on the list price