Control Sold in Special Effects Computer Firm

Digital Productions, a small Los Angeles company that uses a supercomputer to create special effects for movies and television commercials, has been sold by its majority owner to a Canadian company.

Ramtek, a Santa Clara company that makes computer display systems for the imaging and graphics market, said last week that it sold, effective June 30, its 80% interest in Digital Productions to Toronto-based Omnibus Computer Graphics. The stock transaction also involved Control Data, a Minneapolis computer maker, which in 1984 made a long-term agreement to purchase Ramtek’s holdings in Digital and guaranteed certain of Digital’s debts.

The two co-founders of Digital Productions, John Whitney and Gary Demos, have sued Ramtek, Omnibus, Control Data, Digital Productions and others over the sale of the company. A spokesman for the company said the two--who had served as chairman and executive vice president, respectively--were terminated a week ago after they filed the suit.

Whitney and Demos founded Digital Productions in 1981. In 1982, Ramtek assumed the financing for the venture but began bowing out as early as 1984 when it enlisted Control Data’s funding help.

As part of the sale, Control Data will be issued 240,000 shares of Ramtek stock. Control Data assumes full liability for a $10-million bank loan to Digital that it and Ramtek had co-guaranteed, and Digital will received about a 10% ownership of Omnibus.

Digital Productions had an estimated $10 million in revenue for the year ended June 30 and a significant negative net worth. It has been renamed Omnibus Simulations and now is headed by Robert Swanson, an executive from the Canadian firm.