Micropolis goes for its final spin

Asian financial crisis blamed as hard disk drive manufacturer shuts up shop.

Hard disk drive manufacturer Micropolis has been wound up by itsuts up shop. holding company, Singapore Technologies, which has become tired of the losses accrued by the subsidiary.

Industry insiders are speculating that the recent Asian financial crisis was a major influence on the decision, forcing the company to pull back funding from the drive vendor. The unit previously stated that it had $10 billion of backing from its parent company.

The unit's Los Angeles headquarters was shut down last week, following a staff meeting, and all employees were laid off. Staff in Singapore were also dismissed. A 400,000 sq ft manufacturing facility opened in Singapore earlier in the year.

Staff had allegedly thought that a takeover by one of the industry giants was imminent. Rival Seagate had been mentioned as the likely candidate and an announcement to that effect had been expected at the meeting.

Telephone lines at Micropolis' UK headquarters have already been cut off. Terry Ostridge, VP of worldwide distribution sales and Europe, declined to comment.

Micropolis' UK distributors expressed shock and surprise at its demise.

Rob Read, product manager at Summit Peripherals, said: 'It certainly caught us by surprise, and from what I can gather it took executive and middle management by surprise too. It is a bit disappointing because we were doing well with Micropolis products.'

Ray Rice, business manager at distributor CMS Peripherals, said he believed the disk drive business was strong and that it would not be long before a buyer was found. 'Whether it is Seagate or Quantum remains to be seen,' he added.