Wang Labs President Named Chief Executive

Richard W. Miller, president of Wang Laboratories Inc., has been named the company’s new chairman and chief executive, succeeding the computer maker’s founder, An Wang, who died of cancer last weekend.

The directors’ action was expected by analysts, who noted that Miller already assumed much of the leadership last year when he was named president.

“(Miller) basically has the future of the company on his shoulders,” said George Elling, an analyst with Merrill Lynch & Co. “Now we have to see whether his strategy . . . to re-establish the company can succeed. I think the jury is still out.”

Miller already has begun reorganizing the company to reverse recent losses, though he noted Wednesday that the current quarter’s loss probably will be larger than originally expected.

Also, while Miller last fall predicted the company could return to profitability by the end of its fiscal year on June 30, he said Wednesday that the company expects “losses for the balance of the fiscal year.”

Wang’s Class B shares closed at $5.37 1/2 Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange, down 50 cents. Miller’s appointment and comments about losses were made shortly before the market closed.

Miller, a former General Electric Co. executive, became president last August after Wang’s son, Frederick Wang, was forced from the job.

Wang posted a $424.3-million loss for the year that ended last June 30.

Wang became a leading computer company largely by making word processors. But analysts say the Lowell, Mass.-based company stumbled when it failed to react quickly to the emergence of personal computers in the 1980s, which replaced much of the need for word processors.

Wang then shifted its strategy to mid-size minicomputers, but that market has been slumping as the smaller desktop computers grow more powerful and are being connected in networks.

Part of Miller’s strategy has been to trim the company’s costs and reduce its debt through layoffs and selling assets. At the same time, he has declared that the company will be more responsive to the needs of customers--one of its shortfalls, according to analysts.