Original URL: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/09/27/tulip_wants_commodore_back/
Dutch manufacturer Tulip Computers has announced it wants to buy back the Commodore brand it sold to Yeahronimo Media Ventures in 2004 for €22m. The computer maker is planning to bid $1 a share for the US computer firm Commodore, valuing the company at $81m.
Commodore, best known for its legendary Commodore 64 computer in the 1980s, declared bankruptcy in 1994. However, the brand simply refused to die.
German retailer then Escom paid $14m for Commodore International, primarily for the Commodore brand name. It separated the Commodore and Amiga operations into separate divisions, and quickly started using the brand name on a line of PCs sold in Europe.
In 1997, Tulip took over Escom and announced it would re-launch the Commodore name. It even threatened legal action against commercial sites that used the name without a licence. However, for many years very little happened, and late 2004 Tulip sold the Commodore name to Yeahronimo.
On its own, Commodore tried to create a niche in the digital entertainment marketplace with its range of Gravel consumer electronics, including portable media players, and entry-level MP3 players.
Separately, a Commodore subsidiary, Commodore Gaming (http://www.commodoregaming.com), this year revived the brand for a line of high-end gaming PCs (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/04/23/commodore_back_gaming_pc/). It's not clear whether Tulip is hoping to get its hands on these too.
Tulip said that the buy-back "fits in our strategy of increasing our sales base through takeovers". The former manufacturer of PC clones these days offer tailor-made corporate products, including PaceBlade Tablet PCs and Dynalink communications equipment.
"Entertainment products are getting more important," a spokesman told The Register. "This is certainly an area we want to invest in."
However, Commodore still wants to explore its own possibilities of expansion, but have agreed to a due dilligence.
Commodore goes titsup (again) (18 April 2008)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/04/18/commodore_lawsuits/
AmigaOS 5 surfaces... sort of (7 January 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/01/07/ces_amiga_os_5_surfaces/
When Commodore ruled the world (12 December 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/12/12/commodore_64_anniversary/
Ebuyer.com runs on a Commodore 64 (7 July 2007)
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/07/07/ebuyer_runs_site_on_commodore64/
Commodore prices up games machines (23 April 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/04/23/commodore_back_gaming_pc/
Commodore specs up Cxx games machine (15 March 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/03/15/commodore_back_gaming_pc/
Commodore back - again - as gaming PC brand (6 March 2007)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2007/03/06/commodore_back_gaming_pc/
Commodore rises from the dead (21 February 2006)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2006/02/21/commodore_chickenhead/