Severance No Cheap Thing

Archive Corp., a Costa Mesa computer products maker that lost $49 million in its fiscal 1991, paid its five top officers a total of $1.28 million for the 12 months ended Sept. 27.

Even though that included no bonuses, it was 18.5% more than it paid the top five officers in fiscal 1990.

But that’s not such a big deal, when you consider that Archive’s 1991 top executive payroll was 5% less than the $1.35 million it paid to sever the employment of five other officials it inherited when it acquired their firms.