Following the diversification route pioneered by Xerox Corp and followed by General Electric, Wang Laboratories Inc says that it plans to expand its financial services to include equity funds, money market funds, bond funds and venture capital services. The Loweller says that the services will be offered through a new Wang Funds arm of its Wang Development & Investment Corp, the company which has been managing Wang’s financial activities since last year and which currently manages assets of about $750m. The $50m venture capital fund will be backed by the Taiwanese government. Chairman Dr An Wang said that he had agreed to the expansion of the company’s new business now because he felt that the core computer operations were back on an even keel and were now well-managed by a strong team. Separately, Wang shares were an active market Monday on wild rumours of a bid from ITT Corp, but ITT poured cold water on the idea, saying it had $500m to invest in companies, but only ones in areas where ITT already had a leadership position. That very definitely does not include the computer industry. Moreover Wang is very tightly held by Dr An and his family, and could only be acquired with his enthusiastic backing, which is highly unlikely to be forthcoming. His son, Fred, is currently in charge of day-to-day running of the office company.
