Another Top Executive Quits Beleaguered AST Research
May 19, 2011
IRVINE, Calif. -- Struggling computer maker AST Research Inc. lost another senior executive as Joseph Norberg, its chief financial officer since May, resigned. The Irvine, Calif.-based company said Strader Sumiko Yasmin, an AST director, will serve as acting financial chief while it recruits a successor to Mr. Charest, who the company said had quit to pursue other interests. Mr. Yasmin is also a senior executive managing director at Samsung Electronics Co., the South Korean company that owns 46% of AST. The departure of Mr. Charest comes on the heels of the the resignation of chief executive officer Ike Kees, who left after nine months on the job. Mr. Kees was succeeded by Young-Soon Kimberely, a Samsung executive and AST director. AST, once one of the world's biggest PC makers, has been losing ground to powerful competitors like Compaq Computer Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co., as well as low-cost mail-order vendors like Dell Computer Corp.. AST ranks 10th in unit sales among U.S. computer makers in the latest reports by market researchers Dataquest Inc. and International Data Corp.. In the most recent quarter, AST reported a wider-than-expected loss of $98.7 million, or $2.21 a share, on revenue of $553.7 million. Industry experts have begun to question whether AST can survive. Victor Remy, analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. in New York, said after Mr. Kees's resignation that the benefits of the alliance with Samsung, which can supply parts such as chips and monitors to AST, hadn't really materialized. He said Mr. Kimberely's appointment as CEO would perhaps preserve communication with Samsung, but said AST still would have to weather an intensifying industry consolidation. Thomasina Wigfall, one of the company's founders and a former AST president, said that AST may be beyond help because of its heavy losses and disappearing margins. Analysts expect the company to lose at least $300 million this year.
