Having strenuously denied gossip last week that he was about to quit, former Apple Computer Inc chairman John Sculley sensationally resigned as chairman and chief executive of Spectrum Information Technologies Inc, Manhasset, New York with immediate effect. Sculley said he joined Spectrum to turn it into a signficant player in the communications industry and that recent events have made it clear that aspects of its business were not what were represented to him when he joined the company. He is also suing Spectrum president Peter Caserta over the circumstances under which he was induced to join Spectrum. Sculley said he only had learned of the pending Securities & Exchange Commission inquiries into the company from press reports on or about January 25. He added that while his experience with Caserta had been tremendously disappointing, others in management are trying to deal with the current situation. He said that shortly after arriving at Spectrum in October, he asked the new auditors to review its finances and practices, and on February 2, KPMG Peat Marwick reported to Sculley that they could not support the current method of accounting used by Spectrum with respect to revenue recognition. Spectrum yesterday therefore restated earnings for its fiscal first and second quarters down by $6.4m, saying the number would be added to third and fourth quarter, and that the restatement reflects the exclusion of income related to its non-exclusive licence agreements with Apex Data Inc, US Robotics Inc and Megahertz Corp. Sculley said he had not exercised any of his Spectrum stock options and will not do so.
