Molecular Devices announces completion of its acquisition of Axon Instruments

Sunnyvale, Calif., July 1, 2004 - Molecular Devices Corporation (Nasdaq: MDCC), today announced that it has completed its acquisition of Axon Instruments, Inc. The stockholders of both companies have approved the transaction, and all regulatory requirements and other conditions have been satisfied. Pursuant to the merger agreement announced on March 21, 2004, former Axon stockholders are receiving 0.00734 of a share of Molecular Devices common stock and $0.1359 cash for each share of Axon common stock. Molecular Devices is issuing approximately 3.6 million shares of its common stock and paying approximately $68 million of cash in exchange for all of the outstanding shares of Axon. Molecular Devices also assumed employee options to acquire approximately 536,000 shares of Molecular Devices common stock, as well as other options to acquire approximately 38,000 shares of Molecular Devices common stock and approximately $700,000 in cash. As a result of the acquisition, Molecular Devices received approximately $26 million in cash that had been on the balance sheet of Axon. The merger will be accounted for using the purchase method.

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