03/11/96 THE SWEET AND THE SOUR AT APPLE

THE SWEET AND THE SOUR AT APPLE

NEW APPLE COMPUTER CEO Gil Amelio's fat pay package is coming under fire, this time in court. In a recent class action, much-feared shareholder lawyer William Lerach calls the $10 million-plus compensation for Amelio, who replaced the ousted Michael Spindler Feb. 5, ``wildly excessive.'' At embattled Apple, Amelio will earn more than 42% above what he got heading National Semiconductor.
The suit questions how Apple can justify this when it didn't search outside for a CEO--and since its worst problems came after Amelio joined its board in 1994. Plus, Lerach decries Apple's guaranteeing Amelio a $10 million lump sum if it's sold within the next year. (Apple insists it's not for sale.)
Amelio has called his pay ``what the marketplace commands,'' and Apple dismisses the suit as meritless. But Lerach's move commands attention: His track record against Silicon Valley targets includes a $20 million settlement from Apple in the 1980s. This action, which also charges Apple directors and two ex-CEOs with a grab bag of alleged chicanery, is filed in California courts, possibly because federal shareholder suits just became tougher to pursue.
EDITED BY LARRY LIGHT, WITH OLUWABUNMI SHABI By Peter Burrows