#Escom Buys Commodore
17 messages in this thread
Well, the complex Commodore story gets a little more complicated. Escom agreed
today to buy the remnants of Commodore from the Bahamian liquidators. They
agreed to pay up to $6 million, in addition to the $1.4 million already paid
for the German trademark to the liquidator in Germany. The liquidator now will
try to schedule an auction at which others will have a chance to bid. CEI is
still interested. I assume C=UK is as well. The key part of the new agreement
is that the liquidator says that Escom agreed to surrrender the German
trademark to any buyer who bids it at the auction. Without this part of the
agreement, CEI and probably others would not be interested in bidding.
Presumably, to outbid Escom, the bidders will have to throw in $1.4 million to
repay Escom for the trademark, but I am not absolutely sure how this would
work. The liquidator, meanwhile, is still going to go after the German
liquidator for that cash. The Bahamians still say that the trademark really
belonged to CEL rather than the German subsidiary.
Hope that is clear to all. Any questions, just message. This thing
shifted faster than I expected. The liquidator says that Escom backed off a
bit because of the threat of legal action from New York. By backing off, I
mean agreeing to surrender the trademark to a higher bidder.
— Dan
Dan,
You are our lifeline for hard news! Thanks for continuing to follow the
story…
You have my profound thanks for all the info you've sent our way.
Mr. Zombie – Warped forever!
Dan, Could you please give us the run down on Escom? Who are they? Where are
they? What will this mean for the US market? Thanks much for all your help on
the forum. Regards, Gary
Gary —
Escom is big, much bigger than I realized at first. It has more than
200 retail stores in Germany and Central Europe, and has bought recently retail
outlets in England. It also has a Japanese subsidiary. It is also the second
largest computer maker in Germany, after Vobis. I am not sure I completely
understand its corporate structure, but at least the computer unit is 10
percent owned by Siemens-Nixdorf. There may be other investment as well,
possibly from Quelle. The best U.S. counterpart I can think of is Radio Shack
in its heydey. It is a fast growing outfit with very deep pockets.
I might also say I have personally found themrather nasty and
uncooperative. There spokesman lied to me a few months back when I asked if
they were interested in Commodore. He told me definitely not in a very
unfriendly way. At the time, they were offering $12 million for the company.
I have no knowledge of what their plans for the U.S. market is. These guys
will do what suits them and the hell with everyone else.
— Dan
You don't completely understand its coporate structure…. Oh, oh, here
we go again. Perhaps it would be wise to do a search of the names of the
board of directors, and shareholders for the names Gould and Ali.
Wouldn't it be ironic to find out that Gould and Ali outwitted the
Trustees and that in essence C= bought C=? <GRIN>
Actually, someone said there is a former Commodore executive from Germany named
Yost who works for Escom.
— Dan
I would like to offer my commiserations to Mr. Pleasance and co. at the UK MBO
team. Living in England, I thought that their bid would be in the best
interests of the Amiga community. But if Escom can ressurect the Amiga then I
will be overjoyed. Thank you Dan Stets and Alex Baker for the news.
Well, Escom hasn't actually bought the Amiga.
Essentially, what's happened is that a deal for -someone-
to buy the Amiga has been struck. Whoever meets its terms (and
coughes up the dosh) will take the technology, and that could
still be any of the interested parties (the Pleasance group, CEI,
Escom or the Washington state outfit).
At least, that's my unerstanding.
Gary,
Escom is a big computer retailer in Germany. They have two new shareholders
since the end of the last year, Siemens-Nixdorf has now 10 % and Quelle 25 %.
Siemens has a turnover of ca. 80 billion, Quelle of ca. 15 billion german mark.
Quelle will go to market of 'interactive media' in cooperation with Escom and
Quelle plan their own television shopping channel in the near future.
A lot of money in the game…
bye,
Lothar
Lothar Bartsch
eMail: switch@doom.gun.de
Dan,
Thanks very much for posting the info here. I few questions though…
>Escom agreed today to buy the remnants of Commodore from the Bahamian
>liquidators. They agreed to pay up to $6 million
^^^^^^^^^
That low? I thought I heard much higher figures in the past.
>The key part of >the new agreement is that the liquidator says that Escom
agreed to >surrrender the German trademark to any buyer who bids it at the
auction. >Without this part of the agreement, CEI and probably others would not
be >interested in bidding.
I did not thing CEI or the UK team were interested in the Comodore
name/trademark. I thought both had said the new company name would be Amiga
something…
._ _ _ INTERNET: mshea@math.arizona.edu
| | |ichael _>hea COMPUSERVE: 76665,3360
As Alex Amor explained to me yesterday, he is interested in the Commodore
trademark only for its licensing possibilities — letting other people make and
sell things under the name, and getting the proceeds. He plans to use the Amiga
name in his new company, if there is a new company.
— Dan
Michael,
Yep… and that is a "high" bid. 🙂
And to think it started in the 25 million range almost a year ago.
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..
Dan, Where would we be without you? Thanks! Do you have any feel for what
Escom would mean to Commodore's future?
Marion Deland
CROSSINGS – Newsletter for Amiga/PC/Mac compatibility
What happened to Medhi and Gould protesting this whole process?
-mark=
Otto Pilot Engaged..