Escom AG (stylized in uppercase; previously Schmitt Computer Systems) was a German computer company, best known in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

as the successful purchaser of

Commodore International Commodore International (other names include Commodore International Limited) was an American home computer and electronics manufacturer founded by Jack Tramiel. Commodore International (CI), along with its subsidiary Commodore Business Mach ...

and the Amiga trademarks in 1995. Escom was founded by Manfred Schmitt of

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

as the computer division of his music company in 1986. It became a separate company in 1991. In 1993, it became a publicly traded company, and it grew rapidly, controlling 11.2% of the market of German PCs by 1994. During 1992 and 1993, a British operation was set up with a distribution and assembly base in

Irvine, North Ayrshire Irvine ( ; sco, Irvin,
gd, Irbhinn, IPA: Rumbelows Rumbelows was an electrical and electronics retailer in the United Kingdom that once rivalled Currys, Dixons and Comet. History The company was established by Fred Dawes as a chain of television and radio rental shops in the 1950s, and named aft ...

electrical chain, which were being sold off by Rumbelows owner

Thorn EMI Thorn(s) or The Thorn(s) may refer to: Botany * Thorns, spines, and prickles, sharp structures on plants * ''Crataegus monogyna'', or common hawthorn, a plant species Comics and literature * Rose and Thorn, the two personalities of two DC Comic ...

. Also in April 1995, Escom bought

for US$14 million, primarily to get the Commodore and Amiga brand names. Escom was one of two companies to bid for the Commodore and Amiga Brand names and assets. They won the bidding process against

Dell Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data ...

and Creative Electronics International. Many other companies were involved in the buyout but did not bid such as Commodore Uk and

Samsung The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...

. It started using the Commodore name on computers sold in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, and established a separate division for

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

related technologies. The company grew too quickly, however, and lost 185 million

German Mark The Deutsche Mark (; English: ''German mark''), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later the unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was ...

that year. With no bailout from its shareholders, the company declared

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

on 15 July 1996, and was liquidated. The Commodore trademarks were purchased the following year by

Tulip Computers Tulip Computers NV was a Dutch computer manufacturer that manufactured PC clones. History It was founded in 1979 as ''Compudata'', as an importer of American microcomputers. Compudata was the distributor for Europe for the Exidy Sorcerer, a Zi ...

, while the remaining trademarks, together with the full set of patents, copyrights and other intellectual property, were acquired by

Gateway 2000 Gateway, Inc., previously Gateway 2000, is an American computer hardware company. The company developed, manufactured, supported, and marketed a wide range of personal computers, computer monitors, servers, and computer accessories. It was acq ...

References

External links

* {{Amiga companies Amiga companies Commodore International Defunct computer companies of Germany Defunct computer hardware companies