Silicon Chairman Trims Expenses, Two Top Officers

Moving to trim expenses and bolster stagnant profits, Silicon Systems Chairman Carmelo J. Santoro said Thursday that he had accepted the resignations of the Tustin computer chip maker’s top two operating officers, President Stephen Cooper and John Crosby, senior vice president of operations.

The reorganization, which caught both Cooper and Crosby by surprise, was designed to streamline the company’s operations and provide “more energetic steps . . . to actualize its growth and profit potential,” Santoro said. He added that he already had assumed the company’s presidency and responsibility for its daily operations.

Analysts praised Santoro’s moves, noting that they should spur the company’s sagging image on Wall Street as well as give it the dynamic leadership it has lacked.

“Carm is the genius behind the company, and if he’s serious about getting more involved in the company it will be a good move,” said Paul Johnson, an analyst with L.F. Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin Inc. in New York.

Cooper, who had been Silicon Systems’ president since last May, said Thursday that Santoro had not consulted him before ordering the reorganization. “It was Carm’s idea . . . a surprise,” said Cooper, who joined the company seven years ago. Cooper said he has no immediate employment plans.

Crosby, who had been with the company only since November, previously had run his own electronics consulting company in Arizona. He, too, said he had no new job.

Although analysts declined to blame Cooper and Crosby for Silicon Systems’ stagnant profits, they praised Santoro for the reorganization.

“The company had to do something. It was heading sideways over the last few years,” said Andrew Kessler, an analyst with Paine Webber Inc. in New York. “And if you start trimming at the top, you get the employees to trim at the bottom, as well.”