We’ll See Who Goes . . .
Hot off the presses: A recent Tandem Computer employee newsletter included in its “Upcoming Events” section an announcement for a workshop called “Never Work for a Jerk!” Only one problem: To attend the four-hour session on March 17, according to the notice, “manager’s approval is required.”
“We sponsor a lot of employee workshops, and management approval is required for all of them,” a spokeswoman for the Silicon Valley computer maker explained. Still, she added, “I feel bad for the person who wrote the notice. A lot of people are laughing.”
Back Home as No. 1 S&L;
With little fanfare, Home Savings of America in Los Angeles has regained its old position as the country’s largest savings and loan after its recent purchase of Bowery Savings Bank of New York.
The $200-million deal ballooned Home Savings’ size to nearly $37 billion in assets, easily eclipsing another California thrift, American Savings & Loan. American Savings passed Home Savings in size in 1983 and, except for one brief period in 1986, had remained No. 1 since.
Home Savings doesn’t sound too excited about the new ranking, though. A detailed announcement of the Bowery sale made no mention of the new ranking, and the thrift says it isn’t planning any special promotion to inform its customers.
NASA Widens Orbit
The nation’s space program is still mired in the crisis that began two years ago when the Challenger exploded, but space technology is alive and well.
The National Aeronautics and Space Adminstration has just introduced a new service to help small businesses tap the huge reservoir of its technology, which has yielded such products as variable tint sunglasses, special water filters and flexible wire cables.
The NASA Industrial Application Center at the University of Southern California has enlisted 70 local corporations in the new program, which provides computerized access to federal laboratories around the country.
FCA Loses Stock With Young
UCLA Chancellor Charles E. Young, longtime board member of Financial Corp. of America, has sold all his shares in the troubled company.
Young sold 5,075 shares of FCA stock early in January for prices ranging from $1.25 to $1.38 a share, according to The Insiders, a Fort Lauderdale newsletter that tracks stock trading by company insiders.
FCA, owner of American Savings & Loan, announced a $225-million fourth-quarter loss on Jan. 27, which wiped out its shareholders’ equity. FCA’s stock closed Friday at $1.50 a share.
Young, who couldn’t be reached for comment, is a holdover from the era of Charles W. Knapp, chief executive of FCA until the summer of 1984, when he was forced to resign by federal regulators. Knapp was replaced by William J. Popejoy.
His Sister’s Name is Apple
There are times when company loyalty may go a bit too far. Just ask Intel Seow Teik Yang, a 4-year-old in Penang, Malaysia, who is most likely the only boy in the world with that unusual first name.
Young Intel was born three weeks ahead of schedule at an Intel Corp. assembly plant in Penang, where his mother has worked since 1979. Plant employees are said to pride themselves on the quality of their work and their productivity; the Silicon Valley-based company notes that “this may be yet another shining--if unexpected--example.”
