LOS ANGELES COUNTY - News from June 24, 1986

Finis Conner, who briefly was chairman and chief executive of Chatsworth-based Computer Memories, has established another disk-drive company in San Jose called Conner Peripherals.

Houston-based Compaq Computer, the nation’s second-largest maker of personal computers, is an investor in Conner’s firm, said Jeff Stives, a Compaq spokesman. Stives would not disclose the size of Compaq’s investment but said its stake amounts to less than 50%.

Stives said Conner Peripherals plans to make 3 1/2-inch hard disk drives, also known as Winchester drives, that are used by personal computers to retrieve and store data on rigid disks. Conner is the new company’s chairman, president and chief executive.

Conner left Computer Memories last October after less than one month in the job, apparently after a series of disagreements with Irwin Rubin, the man he replaced as chief executive. Rubin later returned to the chief executive’s job.