eMachines was a brand of economical

personal computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...

s. In 2004, it was acquired by

Gateway, Inc. 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 acqui ...

, which was in turn acquired by

Acer Inc. Acer Inc. ( ) is a Taiwanese multinational hardware and electronics corporation specializing in advanced electronics technology, headquartered in Xizhi, New Taipei City. Its products include desktop PCs, laptop PCs ( clamshells, 2-in-1s, co ...

in 2007. The eMachines brand was discontinued in 2013.

History

eMachines was founded in September 1998 by

Lap Shun Hui A lap is a surface (usually horizontal) created between the knee and hips of a biped when it is in a seated or lying down position. The lap of a parent or loved one is seen as a physically and psychologically comfortable place for a child to si ...

as a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acces ...

of South Korean companies Korea Data Systems and TriGem. The company sold PCs at prices of $399 or $499, all without a monitor. By March 1999, the company was ranked fourth in U.S. computer sales, with a 9.9%

market share Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those units would have a ...

. In August 1999, the company released the eOne, a computer that resembled the iMac, priced at $799, with a $400 rebate for customers who signed a 3-year agreement with

CompuServe CompuServe (CompuServe Information Service, also known by its initialism CIS) was an American online service provider, the first major commercial one in the world – described in 1994 as "the oldest of the Big Three information services (the oth ...

. In September 1999, the company announced plans to launch an

internet service provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...

. In November 1999, the company acquired Free-PC, which had previously given away free computers in exchange for advertising. In March 2000, at the peak of the

dot-com bubble The dot-com bubble (dot-com boom, tech bubble, or the Internet bubble) was a stock market bubble in the late 1990s, a period of massive growth in the use and adoption of the Internet. Between 1995 and its peak in March 2000, the Nasdaq Compo ...

, the company became a

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) company can be listed on a stock exchange (l ...

via an

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

, raising $180 million. By that time, the company had sold 2 million computers, but had lost $84.5 million in the previous year on $815 million in sales and a 4% profit margin. Shares fell 8% in their debut. At that time, major shareholders included

AOL AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo (2017� ...

with a 6.4% stake and

Bill T. Gross William T. Gross (born 1958) is an American businessman. Early life Gross grew up in Encino, California and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the California Institute of Technology. Career He founded GNP ...

with a 12.4% stake. By May 2001, the stock was trading at 38 cents per share and the company was delisted from the

NASDAQ The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second ...

. In January 2002, Lap Shun Hui acquired the company for $161 million. In December 2003, the company released the T6000 desktop, the world's first mass-marketed

AMD Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Santa Clara, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for business and consumer markets. While it initially manufactur ...

Athlon 64 The Athlon 64 is a ninth-generation, AMD64-architecture microprocessor produced by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), released on September 23, 2003. It is the third processor to bear the name ''Athlon'', and the immediate successor to the Athlon XP. T ...

-based system, retailing at US$1,299. The systems were primarily sold through

Best Buy Best Buy Co. Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebra ...

stores, but the PCs were also available online. In January 2004, the company was the first to sell notebooks based on the AMD Mobile Athlon 64. In March 2004, the company was acquired by Gateway Inc. for 50 million shares of Gateway common stock and $30 million cash.

Wayne Inouye Wayne Inouye (born 1953) formerly served as Gateway's president and CEO. Inouye announced his departure from Gateway on February 9, 2006. Biography Inouye became president and CEO of privately held eMachines in 2001, where he quickly turned th ...

, CEO of eMachines, became CEO of Gateway, replacing founder

Ted Waitt Theodore William "Ted" Waitt (born January 18, 1963) is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. Waitt is a co-founder of Gateway, Inc.

. In October 2007, Acer Inc. acquired Gateway. On January 17, 2013, the eMachines brand was discontinued.

References

Acer Inc. Computer companies established in 1998 Defunct computer companies of the United States Defunct companies based in California Defunct computer hardware companies Dot-com bubble {{computer-company-stub