IBM To Buy Former Unit Of Egghead

International Business Machines Corp. has picked Bellevue's Catapult Inc., once known as Egghead University, to begin its foray into one of the hottest new high-tech growth areas, personal computer instruction.

The Armonk, N.Y.-based computer giant said it signed a letter of intent to buy Catapult, the computer-training company that was started by Egghead founder Victor Alhadeff.

The company, formerly known as Egghead University, changed its name after Alhadeff left Egghead in 1989 in the face of sharply declining earnings and a shareholder lawsuit. He bought the training unit from Egghead and took it with him.

Since then, Catapult's fortunes have turned. The company has 29 training centers in six cities, including Seattle and Bellevue, with a business that's growing at 50 percent a year, said IBM.

In researching the company, IBM found Catapult to be "a quality operation," said Ralph Clark, president of an IBM subsidiary called Skill Dynamics, which will oversee Catapult.

Skill Dynamics sells computer education but has focused on training computer professionals such as programmers and systems analysts.

The purchase price was not disclosed. Clark said the deal should close before the end of this month.

Clark said Catapult's current management, including Alhadeff and President Norman Behar, will remain with the company. Behar, one of the first employees of Egghead, left the Issaquah-based software retailer in 1991.

Catapult will remain in Bellevue.

Clark said the purchase is IBM's first foray into software training for noncorporate PC users, as well as an opportunity to expand on Catapult's rapidly growing PC training programs for corporations, the bulk of its business.

"It gives us another level in the food chain," he said.