From amk@zikzak.in-berlin.de Tue May 3 11:50:09 1994 From: amk@zikzak.in-berlin.de (Andreas M. Kirchwitz) Newsgroups: de.comp.sys.amiga.misc,de.comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Commodore: weitere Entlassungen -> TILT! Date: Sat, 30 Apr 1994 04:19:43 GMT FollowUp-To: de.comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Organization: 20 minutes into the future. X-Newsreader: Arn V1.03a [jetzt will ich auch mal human gateway spielen, 2 messages folgen: einer handelt von den entlassungen, der andere... naja] | From: brucef@access.digex.net (Bruce M. Franklin) | Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy | Subject: C= Is Shutting Down Worldwide | Date: 28 Apr 1994 22:22:48 -0400 | Message-ID: | | This message was posted on the Genie Starship by a former Commodore | software engineer. He lives in West Chester and is well connected with the | company. This is grim news but the source of it can not be doubted. | | =======================START OF MESSAGE================================ | | | On Wednesday, April 27, Commodore laid off 65% of it's remaining work force at | the West Chester, Pennsylvania location. | | There were also layoffs at that location the previous Friday. The total number | of employees there has dropped from approximately 65 to approximately 22. | Almost all of the remaining staff are in the engineering department. There are | a handful of people (from 2 to 5) in each of the software, hardware, and chip | design groups as well as a remaining sysadmin and technical people useful in | maintaining equipment. | | Commodore also closed its chip manufacturing plant in Norristown, PA, and | layed off it's 15 remaining employees. | | Sources inside Commodore say that there are currently only three staff members | in Commodre's U.K. office, two in the German office and only three at the | production facility in the Phillipines. All other non-U.S. facilities have | been, or are being, liquidated. (The state of the Canadian subsidiary was | unknown but is presumed to be on par with those in UK & Germany.) | | The remaining engineering staff believes it is being kept on in the hopes that | a buyer can be found for the technology and that the remaining staff woould be | in a position to hand over the technology (and possibly to follow the | technology to new employment). | | A remaining manager said (off the record) that they expect Commodore to last | "two, maybe three more weeks". | | ==========================END OF MESSAGE==================================== | | Stick a fork in them, they're done. Commodore is going down the toilet | at last. It's a fair chance that somebody will buy the technology at the | soon to be held Commodore fire sale. Whether they will keep the Amiga | computer alive is another question. It's not likely to happen. As I | said this is grim news but it's time to set aside the usual .advocacy | fantasies and face cold reality. | | | ______________________________________________________________ | | | | | B r u c e M. F r a n k l i n | | | brucef@access.digex.com | | |______________________________________________________________| | From: osiddi1@umbc.edu (Omar Siddique) | Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.misc,comp.sys.amiga.advocacy | Subject: Commodore goes under | Date: 29 Apr 1994 21:50:07 -0400 | Message-ID: <2psdgfINNgvs@umbc9.umbc.edu> | | Commodore's gone. Completely. Voluntary liquidation. Meaning | there won't be _anyone_ making the Amiga any more. ::sigh:: Reported | by three seperate news agencies, CBM apparently made this announcement just | this evening (April 29th, Friday). | | --cut here-- | | Hot off the wires, after the close of business on Friday, Commodore | made an announcement. Here are the stories carried on PRNewswire, | AP News and Reuters for *StarShip* members information. | | | | | COMMODORE INTERNATIONAL LIMITED TO LIQUIDATE | | NEW YORK, April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Commodore International Limited (NYSE: | CBU) announced today that its Board Of Directors has authorized the | transfer of its assets to trustees for the benefit of its creditors and | has placed its major subsidiary, Commodore Electronics Limited, into | voluntary liquidation. This is the initial phase of an orderly liquidation | of both companies, which are incorporated in the Bahamas, by the Bahamas | Supreme Court. | | CONTACT: Hock Tan, CFO of Commodore International Limited, 215-431-9160/ | | | ### | | | Commodore Folds | | By DINAH WISENBERG BRIN | Associated Press Writer | | WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) -- Commodore International Ltd., a pioneer in the | personal computer industry, said late Friday it is going out of business. | | The company plans to transfer its assets to unidentified trustees "for the | benefit of its creditors" and has placed its major subsidiary, Commodore | Electronics Ltd., into voluntary liquidation. | | "This is the initial phase of an orderly voluntary liquidation of both | companies," Commodore said in a brief statement. | | Company executives could not immediately be reached Friday evening. | | The company last month reported an $8.2 million loss for the quarter ending | Dec. 31 on sales of $70.1 million. A year earlier, Commodore lost $77.2 million | on sales of $237.7 million in the same period. | | In the latest report, Commodore said financial limits had thwarted its | ability to supply products, leading to weakened sales. One of its new products, | the Amiga CD32 video game, had sold poorly in Europe, where the company did most | of its business. | | The company's net worth turned negative in the fiscal year ended last June | 30. | | Its stock, which had traded at around $3 per share before the quarterly | results were announced last month, closed unchanged at 87 1/2 cents per share on | the New York Stock Exchange Friday. | | "This is a company that briefly captured the attention of the American market | and didn't go where the market was going," said David Coursey, editor of the | newsletter P.C. Letter in San Mateo, Calif. "They just never managed to change | with the marketplace." | | While grabbing some market share and attention in the late 1970s, Commodore's | products were something between PCs and game machines "and never quite became | either," Coursey said. | | Commodore started 40 years ago as a typewriter repair company in the Bronx. | Its extension to the adding machine business paved the way for it to make | calculators and then personal computers by the mid-1970s. | | Commodore competed with Radio Shack for the first computers sold to homes and | co-founder Jack Tramiel became a highly-regarded figure in the fledgling PC | industry. | | By the early 1980s, it was overshadowed in the PC business by Apple Computer | Inc. and IBM. Software manufacturers didn't create as much software for | Commodore's Amiga line as it did for Apple and IBM-compatible machines. | | In recent years, most of Commodore's business was in Europe. | | NewTek Inc. of Topeka, Kan., created a product called Video Toaster that | converted Commodore's Amiga to a video-editing system. The $2,500 product was | popular with small advertising agencies and home hobbyists. The company's phones | were busy Friday night. | | | ### | | | | Commodore International to liquidate | | NEW YORK, April 29 (Reuter) - Commodore International Ltd said it authorized | the transfer of its assets to trustees for the benefit of its creditors and | placed its major subsidiary, Commodore Electronics Ltd into voluntary | liquidation. | The company said this is the initial phase of an orderly liquidation of both | companies, which are incorporated in the Bahamas, by the Bahamas Supreme Court. | --New York Newsdesk 212-603-3310. | | | ### | --cut here--