Apple to lay off 300 at Claris

Electronic News, Feb 2, 1998 by Cynthia Bournellis

Cupertino, Calif.--In a long line of ongoing changes at Apple Computer, the company will lay off 300 workers at its Claris subsidiary as part of a restructuring aimed at divesting certain Claris products and focusing on the company's FileMaker Pro line of database software.

Fred Anderson, CFO of Apple, said the change does not reflect any plans at this time to sell Claris. Rather, the changes were made to move the most "strategic" products, such as the Mac OS8 operating system, to Apple.

Prior to the restructuring, Claris had distributed various Apple software titles, such as AppleTalk and AppleShare, as well as Mac OS8. Now, Apple will distribute these products in the United States under the Apple brand. In addition, Apple will take over the following Claris brand products from FileMaker, Inc.: ClarisWorks productivity software for grades K-12, ClarisDraw, ClarisImpact and ClarisOrganizer. Apple will market and manage these titles because of the weight they carry among the Macintosh community, said an Apple spokesperson.

Furthermore, Claris will change its name to FileMaker, Inc. and will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Apple. "We are now a more pure software company without the complications of being a distribution arm for Apple's system software," said a spokesperson for FileMaker Inc.

The market for FileMaker Pro consists of 50 percent Macintosh and 50 percent Windows clients. Claris reported sales of 3 million units of FileMaker, with $73 million in revenues from the FileMaker Pro line in fiscal year '97, and $24 million in the most recent quarter ended Dec. 26, 1997.

Sales of the Windows versions more than tripled during the past two years, from $9 million to $28 million, and grew 77 percent during the most recent quarter over the same quarter a year ago. In addition, the product has support from 2,500 developers. The subsidiary will also keep its Claris HomePage Web publishing tool, which works in tandem with FileMaker Pro.

Dominique Goupil will remain as president of FileMaker, Inc. The 300 layoffs will occur on an international basis, with some employees relocating within Apple. Claris has offices in Japan and Europe, as well as a development facility in Blanchardstown, Ireland. That facility, which has 130 employees, will close this summer.