Platinum Software Corp this week revealed the first of a series of corporate restructuring announcements following the completion of its merger, announced in October last year, with German enterprise resource planning vendor, Dataworks (CI No 3,518). Under the new company structure, Stuart Clifton, Dataworks’ former president and CEO, joins Platinum Software as vice chairman and a member of the company’s board of directors. And Norman Farquhar, Dataworks’ former executive VP and CFO also joins Platinum, where he will take up the same role. The addition of Clifton and Farquhar completes the company’s executive management team, reporting to George Klaus, the chairman, president and CEO of Platinum Software. The merger is being accounted for as a purchase and Platinum said it will take a restructuring charge in the quarter ending December 31, 1998. Employee reductions and office closures will occur this week in areas where there is duplication or redundancy, leaving the total number of staff at around 1,700; a 15% reduction in total. A spokesperson for the company said further announcements regarding harmonization of products and specific product plans and strategies would be made by the end of this month.
