FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE           READ-RITE ANNOUNCES DR. VENKATESAN MURALI AS CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER FOR SCION PHOTONICS  FREMONT, CA - October 16,  2000 -- Read-Rite Corporation (Nasdaq: RDRT)  today announced the appointment of Dr. Venkatesan Murali as chief operating officer for Scion Photonics. Commenting on the appointment, Alan S. Lowe, President and Chief Executive Officer of Read-Rite Corporation remarked, "We are very pleased to have Dr. Murali join our team, as he brings extraordinary leadership in technology and high volume manufacturing to Scion. With Dr. Murali on board, the Scion team is rapidly filling out with the key talent needed to make Scion the premier supplier of photonic components and subsystems to the optical networking industry."  Dr. Murali noted, "Scion Photonics offers a very unique opportunity - a photonics start-up that is backed by the advanced technology and high volume manufacturing infrastructure of Read-Rite. This allows Scion to focus on cutting-edge product and technology development while at the same time utilizing Read-Rite's infrastructure to accelerate the time-to-market of our products." Prior to joining Scion Photonics, Dr. Murali was a senior manager in the optical components group at Intel Corporation. Dr. Murali has worked at Intel since 1987 and his technical expertise, in addition to optical component design, manufacturing and fiber interfacing automation, encompassed integrated circuit wafer processing and packaging, product architecture, process technology, and automation solutions. Dr. Murali's proven track record of design-for-manufacturing and supplier infrastructure development combined with his technical strengths will be key assets to Scion Photonics. Dr. Murali obtained his Ph.D. in Material Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, and holds a Bachelors of Technology in Chemical Engineering, Institute of Technology in India. 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 Fremont, California and has operations in California, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan and Singapore. The company's website is located at http://www.readrite.com. Read-Rite is also the majority shareholder of Scion Photonics, Inc. which designs, develops, manufactures and sells both custom and standard Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexers (DWDM) and other optical communication components to address the rapidly growing worldwide fiber-optic network expansion. The company is well funded by the backing of Read-Rite Corporation, Tyco Ventures and Integral Capital Partners. Scion's website is located at http://www.scionphotonics.com. This news release may contain 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. 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 ability to attract and retain other optical experts, the ability to be a time to market leader for optical components, the ability to leverage the strengths of the Read-Rite business with that of Scion; 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 1999 and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the first, second and third quarters of Fiscal Year 2000 ended December 31, 1999, April 2, 2000 and July 2, 2000. Read-Rite undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of such statements. # # # # Last Updated: December 2012 ©2012 Read-Rite Corporation. All rights reserved.