ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Tuesday, February 4, 1997              TAG: 9702040102
SECTION: BUSINESS                 PAGE: B-6  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: SAN JOSE, CALIF.
SOURCE: Associated Press

APPLE PLANS JOB CUTS UP TO 3,000 COULD WALK IN NEW REVAMP

Apple Computer Inc., struggling to stanch the flow of red ink, is expected to lay off up to 3,000 employees and shed unprofitable businesses in its latest reorganization.

The troubled personal computer company likely will announce its plans before its annual shareholders meeting later this week, industry observers predicted Monday.

Apple, which revamped its operations last year, decided to do so again last month after losing $120 million in the October-December quarter - usually the strongest period for personal computer companies. It said it would restructure to cut costs 20 percent and start to make money again but on lower revenues.

Last week, chairman Gil Amelio confirmed that layoffs would be part of the company's restructuring. The Cupertino, Calif., company has a work force of 13,400. Last year the company reduced its work force by 1,500.

Apple also is expected to sell or spin off operations that aren't central to its PC business and that haven't made money. Amelio said he was looking at the Newton hand-held computer and Pippin, a machine that hooks up to a television to play games and surf the Internet.

``The company's in an entrenchment mode to protect its high-margin businesses, especially during the next 12 months' transition, when they try to get a new operating system out,'' said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies Research International in San Jose.

Apple is pinning great hopes on the new operating system, the key program that controls the basic functions of its Macintosh PC. It has lost ground to rival computers using Microsoft Corp.'s Windows operating software, which has eroded the Mac's traditional ease-of-use advantage.

Hoping to outdistance the competition, Apple is buying Next Software Inc. and using its technology as the basis for the new program. Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who started Next after leaving Apple in 1985, was named an adviser to Amelio.

The company's stock on Monday closed at $16.31 1/4 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, down 31 1/4 cents a share. A year ago, Apple's stock traded in the high-$20 range.

LENGTH: Short :   49 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  AP FILE. The Newton hand-held computer, made by Apple, 
          might be jettisoned. color.