He're some update on the situation:
http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/siliconvalley/16974103.htm"Jen-Hsun Huang, the chief executive of graphics-chip maker Nvidia, said in court testimony Friday he did not feel duped in his firm's 2001 acquisition of 3dfx, a struggling rival.
Huang testified on the third day of a trial in which Nvidia is being sued by creditors of 3dfx over how much Santa Clara-based Nvidia paid for the now bankrupt company.
Nvidia purchased 3dfx, the developer of the popular Voodoo graphics boards, for $70 million in cash and a promise of 1 million in stock if 3dfx met certain financial conditions, which it did not.
Creditors of 3dfx now claim the company was worth about $150 million. But Nvidia contends it overpaid for 3dfx, which it now estimates was worth about $15 million."
And it seems that there was another player in the game: VIA Tech!
"Lawyers for the creditors said Nvidia was in a bidding war for San Jose-based 3dfx with another chip maker, Via Technologies. Peter Bertrand, attorney for the creditors' trustee, said Nvidia did not make an offer to buy 3dfx but instead offered a strategic investment. Huang said he did not know how the competitive bid by Via was structured.
``I don't think it was in 3dfx management's best interest to tell me what Via was offering,'' Huang said. When asked if he felt he was ``duped'' by 3dfx management, Huang said no.
`I don't consider that we were duped. We offered a fair deal. And they accepted our deal and they seemed happy with it.'' "