Sorbus Inc. Lays Off 100 at Tustin Service Center

Sorbus Inc. has laid off 100 people at its former computer service center in Tustin after selling the operation to Tustin-based MAI Basic Four.

About 100 employees will continue to work at the Tustin facility, which MAI Basic Four recently purchased as part of a $146-million acquisition of two Bell Atlantic subsidiaries.

MAI Basic Four last week completed the repurchase of two businesses that it sold to Bell Atlantic in 1984. One business was that part of Sorbus that repairs MAI computers, which made up about 25% of Sorbus’ business. The second firm was MAI Canada Ltd.

Nancy Stark, a spokeswoman for Philadelphia-based Bell Atlantic, said the layoffs in Tustin are among 300 middle-level management and staff positions throughout the United States brought about by the sale. The employees were no longer needed because of the reduction in business, she said.

Fred D. Anderson, MAI Basic Four’s chief financial officer, said his firm decided to transfer only 650 Sorbus employees as part of the acquisition.

“We transferred only those employees that were necessary to supply a continuity of service” to the Sorbus unit’s 10,000 customers in the United States, Anderson said. “We didn’t need all of the resources (Bell Atlantic) had dedicated to that business.”

Anderson said MAI Basic Four doesn’t anticipate any more layoffs in the Sorbus or MAI Canada units.

MAI Basic Four manufactures and services computer equipment. The company now employs 4,500 people worldwide.