Board Ousted at Newport Electronics

In a surprise move, the new major shareholder of Newport Electronics has ousted the precision-measuring instrument maker’s entire board of directors.

Milton B. Hollander, a disgruntled Newport Electronics investor who last month gained control of 49% of the company’s stock, earlier had said he would replace only three of Newport’s five directors once he took control.

He apparently had intended to leave Chief Executive Barrett B. Weekes and former vice president Norman Gray on the board because they had backed his takeover efforts and sold him their company shares.

But in a special shareholder meeting Friday, Weekes was bumped from the board along with outside directors Gray, Robert H. Davis, George Pratt and John Virtue.

Hollander and four of his backers, all apparently connected with his privately owned High Technology Holding Corp. in Stamford, Conn., were elected to fill the vacated board posts.

But in the statement announcing the change of command, Hollander did not identify a new chairman to replace Weekes.

Neither Weekes nor Hollander could be reached for comment Friday and it was not clear whether Weekes would remain as Newport’s president and chief executive in the wake of his removal from the board.

Hollander launched his bid for control of Newport Electronics in July, nearly four months after Newport had agreed to be acquired by Sensor Control, a Silicon Valley electronics company, for $9 per share, or $10.8 million.

Hollander, who owned 13% of Newport’s common stock at the time, offered $9.50 a share for enough stock to raise his stake in the company to 48%.

When Newport’s board rejected that offer, he increased the price to $11 a share, or $4.3 million. Both Weekes and Gray then announced that they would sell their shares--a total of 24.6% of the company stock--to Hollander, an engineer and former vice president of Gulf + Western Inc., now Paramount Communications.