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Lantronix Strikes Deal With Dissident Director

Irvine-based networking electronics maker Lantronix Inc. has come to terms with its cofounder who had sought the ouster of the company’s chief executive and chairman as well as other changes.

Bernhard Bruscha, Lantronix’s cofounder and largest shareholder, is withdrawing his slate of candidates for Lantronix’s board in his exchange for the company’s backing of him and another candidate for seats on its board.

Lantronix now plans to back Bruscha, who’s currently a director, for a new term on the board during the company’s Dec. 15 shareholder vote.

The company also plans to back Hoshi Printer, a former chief financial officer with Irvine’s Autobytel Inc., for a board seat.

Printer was one of two candidates Bruscha was pushing for board seats along with himself.

A third Bruscha candidate, Fred Thiel, a former Lantronix chief executive from 1998 to 2002, is withdrawing.

Bruscha and Printer now will be recommended as part of management’s slate of candidates, which includes Chief Executive Jerry Chase.

Bruscha, who owns nearly 40% of Lantronix, had pushed for the ouster of Chase and Chairman Lew Solomon as well as changes to bylaws and business strategy.

Solomon plans to step down with a shrinking of the board from nine to seven members, a move Bruscha had pushed for.

In October, Bruscha laid out his case against Lantronix in a letter and Securities and Exchange Commission filings that argue that management and directors have presided over “lackluster” results and have a “lack of vision.”

The settlement of Bruscha’s board challenge “is in the best interest of the company and all of our shareholders,” Chase said.

Lantronix makes small electronic devices that allow vending machines, thermostats, retail terminals, ATMs and other machines to be accessed via the Internet or other computers.

The company’s shares are down about 30% this year with a recent market value of about $30 million.

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