Prime Computer Inc, now removed to Framingham, Massachusetts, is expected to cut another 900 jobs – 11% of its workforce – mainly at its minicomputer unit, while, Electronic News hears, readying plans to spin off its Computervision computer-aided design and systems subsidiary into a separate company that would eventually be taken public. Prime has said for some time that such a move was likely, and it is reckoned that the profitable CAD/CAM unit would have a much higher market value as a free-standing company while Prime’s computer business continues to lose money. The 900 redundancies – which follow 800 in the first half – are to take effect by the end of the year, bringing the payroll down to 7,000.
