FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MILPITAS, CA -- July 26, 1999 -- Read-Rite Corporation (Nasdaq: RDRT) has appointed George Kern vice president and managing director of Read-Rite Philippines, Inc., according to Andrew Dalisa, the company's senior vice president of Read-Rite International. He replaces Randall S. Hollis who has returned to the United States.
Kern joined Read-Rite Corporation from IP Managers, Inc., an intellectual property management company that specializes in technology licensing and asset management located in Mountain View, California, where he was principal and co-founder. His extensive operations and general management experience also include vice president operations, chief operating officer, and president titles at several other Silicon Valley companies including Advanced Micro Devices, Inc., Domain Technology, Inc., Wafer Scale Integration, and Hewlett-Packard.
Andrew L. Dalisa, senior vice president of Read-Rite International, said of the appointment, "I believe George brings a strong track record of success, a new mindset for operational excellence, and the team building skills to take Read-Rite Philippines HSA operations to a new level of world class performance."
George Kern received a B.S. degree from the University of Santa Clara in economics and mathematics.
Read-Rite Corporation is one of the world's leading independent manufacturers of magnetic recording heads, head gimbal assemblies (HGAs) and head stack assemblies (HSAs) for disk drives and tape drives. The company is headquartered in Milpitas, California and has operations in Japan, Thailand, the Philippines and Singapore. The company's home page on the world wide web can be reached at http://www.readrite.com .
This news release contains statements which include forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Act of 1934, as amended, and is subject to the "safe harbor" created by those sections. These statements include, but are not limited to: the company's expectation that shipments will begin in September; and the company's expectation that its renewed relationship with Quantum will continue. The company's actual results for future periods could differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include, but are not limited to: the company may be unsuccessful in ramping HGA production for Quantum; the company may be unsuccessful in obtaining additional design wins for other Quantum desktop and enterprise programs; and the other factors described in the company's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including, but not limited to, its Annual Report on Form 10-K for fiscal 1998 and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the first, second and third quarters of Fiscal Year 1999 ended December 27, 1998, March 28, 1999 and June 27, 1999 respectively. Read-Rite undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of such statements.