Kaypro Decline - Revision history

FrankRahman: /* 1990 */

2026-02-16T11:56:07Z

1990

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 (Del Mar Citizen, March 2, 1990)
 </blockquote>
 July 5:

FrankRahman: /* 1988 */

2025-10-15T19:55:04Z

1988

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:55, 15 October 2025
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	(Clipping, Craig D Rose Staff Writer)		(Clipping, Craig D Rose Staff Writer)
			</blockquote>

			<blockquote>
			Computer manufacturer Kaypro Corp. said Tuesday that the industry-wide shortage of semiconductors called DRAMs will have a “dramatic” negative impact on its financial results for the current quarter unless the supply of the chips improves soon.

			The shortage of the DRAMs, which stands for dynamic random access memory chips, have caused a “10% to 30% reduction in shipments in all lines” of Kaypro computers in recent weeks, Kaypro President David Kay said in an interview after Tuesday’s annual shareholder meeting.

			The reduction in shipments at Kaypro, which is based in Solana Beach, varies on a daily basis according to the availability of the chips, he said.

			Kaypro controller Bob Gorski said the shortage of DRAMs, which allow computers to store information for quick retrieval, has caused prices of the chips available to increase to as much as $10 each, compared with $3 as recently as late January.

			The price increases have particularly hurt sales of Kaypro’s PC 286 model, a computer line introduced in December whose “guts” include 36 DRAMs. Despite the higher cost of the chips, Gorski said the PC 286 retail price has held steady at $2,995.

			The shortage of DRAMs has been caused by declining Japanese exports and increased U.S. computer production, industry sources said. Though 1.2 billion of the chips will be sold this year, another 250 million could be sold if they were available.

			Kaypro Chairman Andrew Kay told shareholders that even when chips can be had, they often are delivered late. “The ones we ordered from Panasonic for Feb. 15 arrived at the end of March.”

			At the meeting, Andrew Kay answered several hostile questions from Kaypro shareholders who complained about Kaypro’s low stock price. Kaypro shares closed up $.125 at $.8125 per share in Tuesday trading. The shares have trended steadily downward since Kaypro’s initial public stock offering in 1983 when shares sold at $10 each.

			Asked by one shareholder when the stock price was going up, Kay responded: “The Man who knows such things hasn’t talked to me lately.”

			For the fiscal year ended last Aug. 28, Kaypro reported a loss of $9.6 million on sales of $105.6 million. A significant portion of the loss was due to a $5.5 million write-down of inventory related to a discontinued line of Kaypro computers and to a write-off of a $2.1-million account receivable owed by Stars to Go, a maker of video cassette rental systems.

			Kaypro also disclosed at the annual meeting that it will soon be introducing a “clone” of International Business Machines’ PS/2 line of computers. The company also plans to begin marketing its new Micro 1, a desk-top computer based on the Intel 8088 microprocessor chip that will retail for $899.<br>
			(LA Times, March 30, 1988)
	</blockquote>		</blockquote>

FrankRahman: /* 1992 */

2025-07-20T00:36:08Z

1992

← Older revision		Revision as of 00:36, 20 July 2025
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	(New York Times, June 11, 1992)		(New York Times, June 11, 1992)
	</blockquote>		</blockquote>

			==Reflections==
			"Andy had a good eye for technology. One of the things was, even if that, company had been run, extremely efficiently it still wouldn't have survived. PC's Limited, which was starting in Austin, which was Michael Dell's company, were building computers in their dorm rooms. They couldn't compete with Asian manufacturing. And those were very smart people who were very efficient. They had none of the family drama, they were very focused business people, and they couldn't compete with Taiwanese and Japanese manufacturers and then later Chinese. There's no computer company in the United States that makes [entire] computers, it was never going to work."<br>
			([[Interview with Marshall Mosley]])

FrankRahman: /* 1984 */

2025-07-19T23:48:28Z

1984

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:48, 19 July 2025
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	Kaypro said it expects to report revenues of about $120 million for the year, indicating fourth-quarter sales of about $23 million. In the year ended Aug. 31, 1983, its earnings totaled $12.9 million on revenues of $75.2 million.<br>		Kaypro said it expects to report revenues of about $120 million for the year, indicating fourth-quarter sales of about $23 million. In the year ended Aug. 31, 1983, its earnings totaled $12.9 million on revenues of $75.2 million.<br>
	(New York Times, December 4, 1984)		(New York Times, December 4, 1984)
			</blockquote>

			<blockquote>
			Andy Kay calls me up one day, and he's like, why don't you come down to my office, you're going to meet with me. He was there with a woman who was the head of accounting, she was big, she was mean, and she didn't like anybody, so I come and I sit down in his office, and he's says, "We're missing $10 million." Your inventory is showing 10 million less than accounting is showing and I said I'll go over it with you and I went over it with him and she was very challenging she was very aggressive and I said look I'll break it down the point if you want to look at the programming. I'll break it down for you and she was like no.

			They figured out someone had stolen a truck full of Kaypro 10s. On the south of the Kaypro campus was just a hillside right where they had cut into the hillside and they forming 4 semi-circular bands of trailers and that's where they stored integrated circuits, sheet metal, and finished computers. And they figured out that what happened is one night someone pulled up, hooked up the truck and drove out.<br>
			([[Interview with Marshall Mosley]])
	</blockquote>		</blockquote>

FrankRahman: /* 1989 */

2025-07-08T12:17:12Z

1989

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 ===1989===
 April 5:
 <blockquote>
@@ Line 129: / Line 158: @@
 (Del Mar Citizen, April 5, 1989)
 </blockquote>
 ===1990===

FrankRahman: /* 1990 */

2025-07-08T02:05:18Z

1990

@@ Line 210: / Line 210: @@
 In the last three years, business went downhill quickly and Mr. Kay was forced to sell the compound and invest his own money. He is owed $7.3 million, making him Kaypro's largest unsecured creditor.<br>
 (New York Times, July 5, 1990)
 </blockquote>

FrankRahman: /* 1990 */

2025-07-08T01:54:11Z

1990

@@ Line 150: / Line 150: @@
 "(Salisbury) says sales are improving," added the spokeswoman. "There's been nothing major lately, but several (sales) are on the horizon."<br>
 (Del Mar Citizen, March 2, 1990)
 </blockquote>

FrankRahman: /* 1984 */

2025-07-07T21:09:42Z

1984

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 Kaypro said it expects to report revenues of about $120 million for the year, indicating fourth-quarter sales of about $23 million. In the year ended Aug. 31, 1983, its earnings totaled $12.9 million on revenues of $75.2 million.<br>
 (New York Times, December 4, 1984)
 </blockquote>

FrankRahman: /* 1984 */

2025-07-07T18:34:45Z

1984

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 Moreover, Kaypro, a hot new issue last year in the over-the-counter market, has since fallen from Wall Street's grace. Its stock price has dropped from an initial bid of 10, to 3 7/8 yesterday.<br>
 (New York Times, September 13, 1984)
 </blockquote>

FrankRahman at 18:14, 7 July 2025

2025-07-07T18:14:02Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:14, 7 July 2025
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	Events listed as best as possible in chronological order:		Events listed as best as possible in chronological order:

			===1984===
			<blockquote>
			The Kaypro Corporation said yesterday that it is investigating the possibility that millions of dollars in computer parts are missing from a circus tent and big trucks where Kaypro stored them.

			As accountants sought to determine if the loss was a bookkeeping error, speculation mounted that many parts had been stolen.

			Kaypro, based in Solana Beach, Calif., outside San Diego, is the maker of the Kaypro II - a $1,295 portable personal computer that last year was one of the nation's top-selling machines. The Kaypro II has been so successful, in fact, that Kaypro was forced to stockpile parts for it and other models in trucks, in bags strewn on its lawn and under a giant, billowing circus tent on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

			Security, Accounting Called Lax

			But security and accounting for the parts has been lax, people close to Kaypro say. Now, according to an analyst who asked not to be identified, a preliminary review of inventory by Kaypro's auditors, Peat Marwick, is indicating huge shortfalls of chips, screens, disk drives, circuit boards and other components for Kaypro computers.

			Although the accountants' work is not finished, reports circulating in the computer industry suggested that Kaypro's loss could approach $6 million. As of June 30, Kaypro's inventory totaled about $60 million, according to the company.

			The Peat Marwick partner in charge of the case would not answer calls.

			''Nobody knows how much the loss is because Kaypro's accounting is so bad,'' said Kenneth T. Lim, an industry analyst at Dataquest, a San Jose, Calif., market researcher.

			Late yesterday, Kaypro was reluctant to discuss in detail its apparent loss. In a statement, the company said it lacked sufficient information to assess damage. But responding to news reports of an impending write- down of several million dollars, the company said, ''Although there is the possibility that the amount of the loss, if any, when determined could prove less than this amount, it is possible that it may reach or exceed such levels.''

			It was not immediately clear what part of the apparent loss could be attributed to theft and what part to bookkeeping problems. Kaypro has not filed any theft reports with the local sheriff.

			Previous Thefts Hinted

			In particular, Andrew Kay, Kaypro's chairman and founder, has hinted to reporters in the past that people have taken parts and computers from the company's manufacturing plant without authorization. A secretary at the company said Mr. Kay was not available yesterday.

			But David Kay, who is Andrew Kay's son and Kaypro's vice president for marketing, said in a telephone interview that the tent, which contained boxes of tiny electronic parts, was "not very secure; all it takes is a pocket knife to cut it." A company spokesman noted, however, that the entire Kaypro complex is surrounded by a fence and is guarded around the clock.

			A good deal of Kaypro's inventory problems may be related to faulty accounting, however.

			Sources close to the company said yesterday that Kaypro may have failed to note all its defective parts. The result would be that the company would include on its books components that had been discarded.

			Kaypro has also suffered from a large number of problems in the hard disk memory system of its Kaypro 10 model. Dealers are supposed to return faulty memory devices to Kaypro for credit but have not always done so. Kaypro, aware of that, may have been counting as returned parts that were not returned, these sources said.

			Suits Possible

			Kaypro could face stockholder or Government suits, if it can be shown that the company violated generally accepted accounting principles.

			The apparent losses are part of broader problems at Kaypro. Although the company's 26-pound Kaypro II continues to be popular, helping push Kaypro's sales from $5 million in 1982, to an estimated $100 million in the year ended Aug. 31, revenue growth has fallen off recently. The company has also been shaken by management turmoil.

			Moreover, Kaypro, a hot new issue last year in the over-the-counter market, has since fallen from Wall Street's grace. Its stock price has dropped from an initial bid of 10, to 3 7/8 yesterday.<br>
			(New York Times, September 13, 1984)
			</blockquote>

	===1988===		===1988===