SunRiver Corp, Austin, Texas, has given up on everything that’s not network computers and has thrown in the towel on its loss- making TradeWave Corp subsidiary. It will now concentrate solely on its Boundless network computers. Between 70 and 80 employees will lose their jobs now, with about 10 to 15 staying around to handle the dissolution of the unit, which had internet security products primarily for the health market and virtual private networks. SunRiver will take a hit of $6.6m in its fourth quarter to cover all the costs associated with TradeWave’s demise. TradeWave lost $2.5m in the first nine months of the current fiscal on revenues of just $1.5m. Chairman and CEO Len Mackenzie, who was installed in late November, said the subsidiary was spending $1m a month. In the same period Boundless generated net profits of $1.5m on revenues of almost $100m. The company has been looking to change its name to Boundless Corp ever since it got religious about network computers (CI No 2,985), but after an end-of-year boardroom coup which presaged the shedding of TradeWave, the name change is still pending shareholder approval. With what now looks like remarkable audacity, SunRiver tried to float TradeWave last September under the previous management. That management team was ousted and Mackenzie and his colleagues postponed the idea, blaming a soft market for internet-related stocks. The team looked for a private placement of the stock last November before killing the idea off completely. Some 100 people were also given pink slips for Christmas presents as things got worse at SunRiver. The company expects to announce a new chief technology officer within about a week, according to Mackenzie. A consultant fills the role at the moment.
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