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)
OCTOBER 7, 1996 (OCTOBER 4, 1996)
AST RESEARCH, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
DELAWARE
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation)
0-13941 95-3525565
(Commission File Number) (IRS Employer Identification No.)
16215 ALTON PARKWAY
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA 92718
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code
(714) 727-4141
NOT APPLICABLE
(Former name or former address, if changed since last report.)
ITEM 5. OTHER EVENTS
On October 4, 1996, AST Research, Inc. (the "Company") announced the resignation
of Michael Willcocks, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific, and Gerald T. Devlin,
Senior Vice President, Americas. Hoon Choo will join the Company as Senior Vice
President, Asia Pacific. Y.S. Kim, President and Chief Executive Officer of the
Company, will take over responsibility for the Americas region in the interim
until a permanent replacement for Mr. Devlin is appointed. A copy of the press
release is attached to this report, and is incorporated herein by reference.
ITEM 7. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND EXHIBITS
Exhibit
Number Description
99.1 Press Release dated September 18, 1996 announcing the resignation of
Michael Willcocks, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific, and Gerald T.
Devlin, Senior Vice President, Americas. Hoon Choo will join the
Company as Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific.
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned hereunto duly authorized.
AST Research, Inc.
_______________________________________
(Registrant)
By /s/ DENNIS R. LEIBEL
------------------------------------
Dennis R. Leibel
Senior Vice President
Legal, Administration and Secretary
Date: October 7, 1996
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media & Analyst Contact: Emory Epperson
(714) 727-7958
AST RESEARCH ANNOUNCES MANAGEMENT CHANGES
NEW SENIOR-LEVEL POSITION CREATED TO MERGE GLOBAL MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS
IRVINE, Calif., October 4, 1996 -- AST Research Inc. (ASTA--NASDAQ) today
announced a series of executive changes occurring this month and its ongoing
reorganization program designed to expedite the company's return to
profitability.
Included among the changes are the resignations of Michael Willcocks, 47,
senior vice president, Asia Pacific, and Gerald T. Devlin, 50, senior vice
president, Americas. Both corporate officers have resigned to pursue other
career opportunities.
AST also announced it has created a new position of Senior Vice President,
Global Corporate Marketing and Communications, and that the company has
initiated a search to fill that position. The new position consolidates AST's
strategic responsibilities for global marketing and channel strategies, in
addition to customer relations, brand promotion and corporate communications.
Integral to the new marketing and communications organization is another
newly-created position, Vice President, Global Corporate Marketing, which will
be responsible for global marketing activities that include customer research,
regional strategy development and brand promotion across all product families.
This new position will report to the senior vice president, Global Corporate
Marketing and Communications.
The company also has consolidated product concept and life cycle management
for all desktop, mobile and server brand families under the newly-formed Product
Planning Group, which reports to N.B. Park, senior vice president, worldwide
product development and manufacturing.
"Although stability is an important long-term goal in our return to
profitability, changes may inevitably occur," said Y.S. Kim, AST president and
chief executive officer. "We have made rapid progress in a relatively brief
period of time towards bolstering our leadership capabilities in engineering,
manufacturing, quality, service and support and finance. Our strategy is to
streamline the decision making process and empower management to respond quickly
to the fast-changing needs of the technology marketplace.
"By creating the new global corporate marketing position at the officer
level and consolidating all marketing and communications functions into one
organization, AST will be better positioned to establish and maintain a cohesive
identity -- from product inception, all the way through manufacturing,
distribution, sales and service. This new approach will be supported by a fully
unified global mission that clearly expresses AST's values and delivers on them
quickly."
Assuming responsibility for activities within the Asia Pacific region will
be Hoon Choo, 50, a member of the team of Samsung consultants who are assisting
AST in improving its operational efficiencies. He will join the company as
senior vice president, Asia Pacific.
As senior vice president, manufacturing (consulting), Mr. Choo helped
significantly improve production efficiencies at AST's Fort Worth manufacturing
facility. Mr. Choo founded A-Cube Systems (Cupertino, Calif.) and held
positions in the past as an executive vice president of Hyundai Electronics
America and as a director of Samsung Electronics' Computer Division.
Responsibilities for the Americas region will be filled on an interim basis
by Mr. Kim until a permanent replacement is appointed for Mr. Devlin.
AST Research Inc., a member of the Fortune 500 list of America's largest
industrial and service companies, is one of the world's leading personal
computer manufacturers. The company develops a broad spectrum of desktop,
mobile and server PC products that are sold in more than 100 countries
worldwide. AST systems meet a wide range of customer needs, ranging from
corporate business applications to advanced home and office use. Corporate
headquarters is located at 16215 Alton Parkway, P.O. Box 57005, Irvine,
California 92619-7005. Telephone (714) 727-4141 or (800) 876-4278. Fax (714)
727-9355. Information about AST and its products can be found on the World Wide
Web at http://www.ast.com.
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