Commodore International

Commodore International Corporation was a <a href="/facts/Home_computer/CDEPVd1T">home computer</a> and electronics manufacturer with its head office in <a href="/facts/The_Bahamas/x6VKsUhj">The Bahamas</a> and its executive office in the United States founded in 1976 by <a href="/facts/Jack_Tramiel/fstS777U">Jack Tramiel</a> and <a href="/facts/Irving_Gould/2YL43mh5">Irving Gould</a>. It was the successor company to Commodore Business Machines (Canada) Ltd., established in 1958 by Tramiel and Manfred Kapp. Commodore International (CI), along with its U.S. subsidiary Commodore Business Machines, Inc. (CBM), was a significant participant in the development of the <a href="/facts/Home_computer/CDEPVd1T">home computer</a> industry, and at one point in the 1980s was the world's largest in the industry.
The company released its first home computer, the <a href="/facts/Commodore_PET/08R12Xk4">Commodore PET</a>, in 1977; it was followed by the <a href="/facts/VIC-20/bLE8KkRE">VIC-20</a>, the first ever computer to reach one million units of sales. In 1982, the company developed and marketed the world's best selling computer, the <a href="/facts/Commodore_64/3TPcKDbb">Commodore 64</a>; its success made Commodore one of the world's largest personal computer manufacturers, with sales peaking in the last quarter of 1983 at $49 million (equivalent to $126 million in 2023). However an internal struggle led to co-founder Tramiel quitting, then rivalling Commodore under <a href="/facts/Atari_Corporation/xEQfvRP7">Atari Corporation</a> joined by a number of other employees. Commodore in 1985 launched the <a href="/facts/Amiga_1000/GwPJnr0t">Amiga 1000</a> personal computer — running on <a href="/facts/AmigaOS/1E2k1fuN">AmigaOS</a> featuring a full color <a href="/facts/Graphical_user_interface/wBlQFWDP">graphical interface</a> and <a href="/facts/Preemptive_multitasking/wjgIbWel">preemptive multitasking</a> — which would initially become a popular platform for <a href="/facts/Computer_games/AEDr23gA">computer games</a> and creative software. The company did particularly well in European markets; in <a href="/facts/West_Germany/oCydk787">West Germany</a>, Commodore machines were ubiquitous as of 1989.
The company's position started declining in the late 1980s amid internal conflicts and mismanagement, and while the <a href="/facts/Amiga/60B3A9of">Amiga</a> line was popular, newer models failed to keep pace against competing <a href="/facts/IBM_PC%25E2%2580%2593compatible/zGUpl7Sh">IBM PC-compatibles</a> and <a href="/facts/Apple_Macintosh/8GhnXTK0">Apple Macintosh</a>. By 1992, <a href="/facts/MS-DOS/fVrrz1uN">MS-DOS</a> and 16-bit <a href="/facts/Video_game_consoles/K72D1NSS">video game consoles</a> offered by <a href="/facts/Nintendo/dMrLpaHu">Nintendo</a> and <a href="/facts/Sega/f9TY2kyl">Sega</a> had eroded Amiga's status as a solid gaming platform. Under co-founding chairman Irving Gould and president Mehdi Ali, Commodore filed for bankruptcy on April 29, 1994 and was soon <a href="/facts/Liquidated/a6jzeIfl">liquidated</a>, with its assets purchased by German company <a href="/facts/Escom_AG/v7LI366S">Escom</a>. The Amiga line was revitalized and continued to be developed by Escom until it too went bankrupt, in July 1996. Commodore's computer systems, mainly the C64 and Amiga series, retain a cult following decades after its demise.
Commodore's assets have been passed through various companies since then. After <a href="/facts/Escom_AG/v7LI366S">Escom</a>'s demise and liquidation, its core assets were sold to <a href="/facts/Gateway_2000/VoMlyFsL">Gateway 2000</a> while the Commodore brand name was eventually passed to <a href="/facts/Tulip_Computers/9eHKtlBJ">Tulip Computers</a> of the Netherlands, and remains under ownership of a Dutch company today. Gateway 2000 attempted but failed to market a modern Amiga, and eventually sold the copyrights, Amiga trademark and other intellectual properties to <a href="/facts/Amiga%2c_Inc./3ddzA7oz">Amiga, Inc.</a>, while retaining the Commodore <a href="/facts/Patents/LjT2bG3A">patents</a>, which are now under <a href="/facts/Acer_Inc./HQ3INX1c">Acer</a> since its acquisition of Gateway. Amiga Corp., a sister company of Cloanto, owns the Amiga properties since 2019. <a href="/facts/Hyperion_Entertainment/Vd9yWYoh">Hyperion Entertainment</a> of Belgium has continued development of AmigaOS (<a href="/facts/AmigaOS_4/syRUuNdz">version 4</a>) to this day under license, and have released <a href="/facts/AmigaOne/HKGNdF0x">AmigaOne</a> computers based on <a href="/facts/PowerPC/DqmM9y50">PowerPC</a>.

Commodore International open-in-new

Commodore International