Firm Buys 20% of Alpha Micro

New York-based Alphabet Technologies Inc. has bought out the founders of Alpha Microsystems, acquiring a 20% stake in the business computer maker, the companies announced Friday.

David Young, Alpha Micro’s chief financial officer, said Alphabet Technologies paid $1.6 million, or $4 a share, for 400,000 shares owned by Robert Hitchcock, Alpha Micro’s chairman.

Alphabet paid an additional $750,000, or $3.75 a share, for 200,000 shares owned by Richard Wilcox, former vice chairman of Alpha Micro.

Wilcox, who resigned in October, and Hitchcock, who has had health problems since last fall, founded Alpha Micro in 1977.

Young said Alphabet Technologies has not expressed any plans to acquire Alpha Micro or to increase its stake in the company.

Gisbert Fischer, president of Alphabet Technologies, has talked with Alpha Micro for several years about possible joint marketing arrangements in which Alpha Micro’s dealer network would distribute Alphabet’s computer products in the United States.

Alpha Micro reported Thursday that it lost $7.5 million for the fiscal year ended Feb. 24, contrasted with net income of $772,000 a year earlier. Revenue was $52.8 million, down 5.5% from $55.9 million a year earlier.