Chief Financial Officer at AST to Leave Firm : Turnover: Bruce C. Edwards is the sixth executive to exit the troubled Irvine company since September.

By GREG MILLER

Nov. 22, 1995 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

IRVINE —

Turnover in the executive ranks at AST Research Inc. continued Tuesday as Bruce C. Edwards, chief financial officer and a director of the giant computer manufacturer, said he will leave the company at the end of the year.

“I felt with all the changes going on now, this was an appropriate time,” said Edwards, 42, who has served as chief financial officer for the Irvine-based company for 11 years.

Edwards is the sixth official to leave the troubled company since September, when President James T. Schraith and two other executives resigned. Earlier this month, co-founder and chairman Safi U. Qureshey said he was stepping down as chief executive in favor of Ian Diery, a former Apple Computer executive.

Edwards said he had not been asked to leave the company, and that he now hopes to find an executive position with a smaller company in which he can play a larger role.

Edwards said he is sticking around through December to help the company in a time of transition, and to complete recent agreements with Samsung Electronics, a South Korean electronics company that acquired 40% of AST earlier this year in exchange for a $378-million cash infusion.

Samsung recently agreed to offer further financial help in return for a larger interest in the company and control of the board of directors. To achieve that new boardroom balance, Edwards said he might not be replaced on the board, currently comprised of five members appointed by Samsung, and six by AST, including Edwards.

AST also announced that it has introduced a new notebook computer that is the company’s first product to be manufactured by Samsung. The new computer, called the Advantage! Explorer 212, is also AST’s first portable PC that will primarily be sold through retail outlets.

AST recently reported a $96-million loss for its first fiscal quarter, just shy of the loss of nearly $100 million it reported for all of last year.