The latest bankruptcy filing by Amsterdam-registered Memorex Telex NV (CI No 3.022) means that it is close to the end for a once-proud company laid low by an injudicious acquisition by a headstrong chief executive with little understanding of the industry – as confirmed later by the disastrous creation of Unisys Corp. Over recent years, the 35-year-old company has been attempting to move away from its computer and peripherals manufacturing business over to networking and storage integration, in partnership with companies such as Intel, Shiva Corp and Novell Inc. It was acquired in 1981 by Burroughs, but regained its independence after a European management buyout in 1986. In 1988 it bought computer terminal manufacturer Telex. In the 1990s, it was forced to file for bankruptcy in both 1992 and 1994, and last year began posting losses once again. The company now intends to sell its core US operation, and retreat to Europe, Israel, Canada and Latin America. It says that discussions a re underway with several potential buyers for all its US lines of business – service, networking and storage subsystems. The US operation, which is run from Irving, Texas, employs 1,700 people.
