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UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K
CURRENT REPORT
PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
Date of report (Date of earliest event reported): September 21, 1999
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)
Delaware 001-08703 95-264-7125
(State or Other Jurisdiction (Commission (IRS Employer
of Incorporation) File Number) Identification No.)
8105 Irvine Center Drive
Irvine, California 92618
(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (949) 932-5000
Not Applicable
(Former Name or Former Address, if Changed Since Last Report)
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INFORMATION TO BE INCLUDED IN THE REPORT
ITEM 5. OTHER EVENTS.
On September 21, 1999, Western Digital Corporation issued a press
release announcing that its financial results for the first quarter ending
October 2, 1999, would be below Wall Street analyst estimates.
A copy of this press release is attached as Exhibit 99.1.
ITEM 7. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS, PRO FORMA FINANCIAL INFORMATION AND EXHIBITS.
Exhibit Description
- -------- ---------------
99.1 Press Release dated September 21, 1999, regarding Western Digital
Corporation's announcement that the Company's financial results for the
first quarter ending October 2, 1999, would be below Wall Street analyst
estimates.
SIGNATURE
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf
by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
Date: September 27, 1999
WESTERN DIGITAL CORPORATION
By: /s/ Michael A. Cornelius
------------------------------
Michael A. Cornelius
Vice President, Law and
Administration and Secretary
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Exhibit 99.1
Press Release
WESTERN DIGITAL PREANNOUNCES FIRST QUARTER RESULTS
IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Western Digital Corporation
(NYSE: WDC news) today announced that its financial results for the first
quarter ending October 2, 1999 would be below Wall Street analyst estimates. The
current mean expectation is a loss of $1.07 per share. The Company indicated
that revenue for the quarter is expected to be in the range of $550 to $560
million and its loss per share in the range of $1.20 to $1.30. The loss per
share range excludes any one-time charges associated with the shift of high
volume desktop manufacturing from its Singapore plant to its Malaysian facility
and gains associated with the early retirement of a portion of the Company's
convertible subordinated debentures.
Chuck Haggerty, chairman, president and chief executive officer of
Western Digital, said: "Continued competitive pricing pressure in the desktop
drive business and lower unit shipments were the primary factors in widening our
loss and reducing revenue this quarter. Although not as severe as the June
quarter, pricing in the desktop business has remained extremely competitive.
Shortages of certain desktop components caused us to miss shipments to customers
in August, and OEM customer demand in the last month has not been as strong as
we anticipated." Accordingly, although the component issues have been resolved,
we reduced our volume plan so as not to have excess inventory at quarter end.
Consistent with our policy, we will not over-ship to the distribution channel."
Haggerty indicated that the Company's product plans remain very solid
and well-matched with customers' product roadmaps, including:
- -- Time-to-market performance in the desktop segment, with the introduction
earlier this month of the WD Caviar(TM) 9.1 GB/platter program and -- later this
month -- of the 10.2GB/platter desktop program, with volume shipments of the
latter scheduled for October.
- -- The WD Enterprise(TM) 10,000 RPM/Ultra160 SCSI drive, also a time-to-market
leader, is in qualification at several key OEMs and available for shipment.
- --Evaluation units of the new WD Performer(TM) hard drives for home
entertainment -featuring WhisperDrive(TM) acoustics technology --are shipping to
leading digital video recorder and set-top box suppliers.
The Company also indicated that its previously-announced consolidations
of manufacturing facilities in Singapore and the shift of high volume
manufacturing to Malaysia will result in annualized cost savings of
approximately $100 million.
In addition, the Company reported that it had recently completed
renegotiation of the covenants related to its $125 million revolving bank credit
facility.
Western Digital Corporation is a leading manufacturer of hard drives
used for information storage in desktop computers, servers, workstations and
home entertainment electronic products. Through its Connex subsidiary, the
company serves users of network-
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attached storage systems and enterprise-wide storage area networks. Western
Digital was founded in 1970 and has long been noted for its storage and
end-market systems-level design knowledge. The company's products are marketed
to leading systems manufacturers and selected resellers under the Western
Digital brand name. Its home page can be found at http://www.westerndigital.com.
This release contains forward-looking statements, including statements
relating to the range of the Company's expected revenue and loss for its first
quarter, expected one-time charges for such quarter, expected shipments for the
balance of such quarter, shipments of the 10.2GB/platter program, and the
annualized savings from the Company's consolidation of manufacturing operations.
The forward looking statements are based on current management expectations, and
actual results may differ materially as a result of several factors, including:
the volume of shipments for the remainder of the quarter; pricing trends;
achievement of operational efficiencies and unit sales growth over the next
several quarters; overall supply and customer demand in the hard drive industry;
continued improvement in time to market and time to volume of the Company's new
hard drives; changes in customer order patterns; successful qualification of the
Company's drives with key OEM customers; business conditions and growth in the
personal and enterprise computing industry; and other factors discussed in the
Company's recent SEC filings. The Company undertakes no obligation to update
forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances occurring after
the date of such statements.
